


Star Wars: Fight for Survival

by Captain_Kiri_Storm



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Ahsoka Tano Lives, Alternate Universe - Slavery, Breeding, Clone Trooper Fives puts up with a lot, Clone Wars, F/M, For a Friend, Forced Pregnancy, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Jedi Knights, M/M, Miscarriage, Mpreg, Nightsisters (Star Wars), Pregnant Nightbrothers, Rape, Rape Aftermath, Rejection, Survivor Guilt, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tup is clueless, Wolffe puts up with a lot, please read the tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-11
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 21:50:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 28
Words: 28,649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9291062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Kiri_Storm/pseuds/Captain_Kiri_Storm
Summary: After Order 66, when the order is put out to kill or capture any of the remaining Jedi, no safe guards were put in place to make sure that nothing terrible would happen. In fact, the Empire couldn't have cared less.For two Zabrak Jedi, Agen Kolar and Eeth Koth, the reality couldn't be anymore grim. One of them is supposed to be dead. The other is supposed to be on the run. But thanks to the long arm of the ISB, both Jedi are in chains. They're sold across the galaxy and into an evil both of them did everything in their power to destroy. But there are no heroes in Jedi robes for this pair. With their access to the Force dampened, escape looks unlikely.Fives, Tup, and Wolffe have every reason not to rescue a pair of Jedi and the nine children in tow. There might be a reason this batter pair of survivors was rejected from the last strong hold of the Jedi. But with the reappearance of Ahsoka, a very close friend of Wolffe, the clones have a reason to think differently.It's hard for bitter survivors to accept each other. It's even harder for disgraced Jedi to accept that they didn't do this to themselves





	1. A Fresh Catch

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Winters_stars21](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winters_stars21/gifts).



> Please do read the tags. This starts off as a very dark story, and it does get better. I'll try to post trigger warnings at the top of each chapter
> 
> General Warnings for the entire book  
> 1). Repeated Rape/Non-con  
> 2). Miscarriage  
> 3). Graphic Birth

It was cold underneath him and he could have sworn that there was a cool breeze across his body. That felt strange to him, as he thought that death would make him warm as he joined the Force. Agen Kolar didn't want to open his eyes for fear that he would see his own entrails, spread across his belly. All it had taken from that Sith Lord was just a single blow. Just one strike and he had been down. Agen had been considered a Master of swordsmen hat the Jedi Temple, but this Sith had made him look like a youngling fresh from the creche. He hadn't know what he was facing and had blundered in like a bull rancor. This was his punishment, to die in a pool of blood, as the Sith showed their fangs once again.

"You _sure_ that thing is still alive?" A boot nudged his side. Agen didn't groan. He just lay there, his body limp and broken. "Why the hell did you waste bacta on a **corpse**? No one's gonna wanna buy that thing! And the color! Are you _sure_ they didn't have a better looking one? If I wanted shit brown, I woulda gotten rancor scat! Not _this_!" The boot savagely kicked his side and Agen groaned. He blinked open his brown-gold eyes and looked around. He vaguely noted a pair of Zygerrians, one dressed like a typical merchant and the other looking like nobility. "Looks like you didn't screw up too badly. Go take it to the vets and do a fertility test. I'll go look through the studs we have."

Agen groaned. He rolled over and gagged on nothing, almost choking on the bile he was throwing up. The Zabrak shook his head and groaned before closing his eyes. It hurt to think and to wonder why he wasn't dead and why he was here. He really didn't care. They could do whatever they wanted, just as long as they left him the hell alone. He hurt and he was going to sit and sulk. They couldn't make him get up because his head hurt and he wasn't sure if his legs worked or not. This wasn't going to go very well, he could just feel it.

The noble motioned and three others came out of the woodwork. He tipped Agen's head back and made sure that the Jedi looked at him, golden eyes to brown. "Get up before I make you get up."

He squinted. "You want me to get up?" In his defense, Agen was fairly sure that he did have a concussion. Everything was coming through a haze now, like it was being filtered through a lot of water. The noble yanked him up by the arm. He yelped, trying to pull away. The Zygerrian slapped him across the face. Agen tried to pull back, tried to reach for the Force, but nothing happened. All he met was a cold, dead wall where the Force had once been. He panicked slightly, trying to yank away from the cruel hands on him. Terror overwhelmed what was working in his mind and the others clipped a chain to what looked like a collar. Agen tried to toss his head, but one of them yanked. He lost his balance and fell.

"Get him moving," the first one calmly said. "What color do you think we should breed the fresh catch too?"

One of the ones with the chain shrugged. "Gold or copper. Whichever one we have. Probably Shotzi or Boss. Though you know he's one of the hardest to handle. After Red, though, but we got rid of Red a week ago. I don't know which is better, Shotzi digging his heels in or Red biting off fingers."

"Wasn't just fingers." One of them yanked him and Agen was dragged across concrete. He screamed as it ripped away parts of his face and he struggled, trying to get his bound hands under him. "Bastard bit off half my kriffing _hand_!" He aimed a kick at Agen, getting him in the ribs. The former Jedi screamed, only to be yanked up by the second one. He tried to wipe his bleeding face off on his robes, only to realize that he was almost totally naked except for a pair of loose trousers. His body burned with shame and he walked a little awkwardly. "The bitches are usually _much_ easier to handle."

They took him into what looked like a medical bay. One of them, the one missing part of his hand, roughly shoved Agen's hands into a pair of binders and hoisted them far into the air. Agen was stretched out, left vulnerable, unable to protest as he was stripped naked. He panted from fear and his injuries, crying out as the wounds on his stomach were pulled on. His brain wasn't working. He kept trying to reach for the Force, to just make it stop, but nothing happened. Agen twisted around, trying not to scream. A little bit of blood was drawn from his shoulder and...and they inserted a _thing_...up his anus. Agen fought against the intrusion, terrified of it, and screamed when it started to burn.

" _No_!" He twisted around, trying to get free. But the restraints held firm and the two ignored him. Agen looked around in a blind panic, his breathing coming in harsh pants. "No! Let me go!" He threw his will behind the words, but noting happened. The two ignored him and Half-Hand squeezed his buttocks. He hyelped and tried to get away, but they just ignored it. Nicked Ear must have gotten tired of the pleas, because he pinched Agen's nose until he opened his mouth to breathe and then gagged him. After that, no matter how much he screamed, as strange fingers assaulted him, no sound came out. The only things to witness his fear were the tears streaming down his face.

Agen's face burned with shame as they used a cold fluid on him. He hated it and struggled. But they yanked his wrists up higher until he was forced to stay still. Another thing, larger this time, was placed up inside of him. His body clenched around it and he tried to whimper around the gag. Agen's wrists were scratched and bloodied by the end of it and his eyes burned with tears. What else could he do? He protested, or tried too, but his legs threatened to fail him as he was let down. It took all of his training as a Jedi Master to keep himself from falling in a heap. One of them yanked him by his dark hair, a symbol of pride, and roughly shaved it off.

"Wretch has mixed blood," Nicked Ear muttered. He kicked Agen in the side again and dragged him through the rest of the complex. Maybe it was over. Instinct told him it wasn't, though, and his fear increased with every step they took. He couldn't fight back without the Force. He had no weapons and his limbs were bound. He had no idea where he was, only that he was in the custody of Zyggerian slavers. Had the Sith sold him here as a punishment? Had the Sith even had his way with Agen's unprotesting body? He'd heard stories that Sith would do such things...

His battered wrists were locked into something that kept him bent over and his legs spread apart. The gag was removed and Agen swallowed. He tried to call up the Jedi Code, but his mind was numbed by fear. Agen had an idea of what was going to happen. He, after all, had lead the charge to destroy places like this. It was a kind on humiliating irony that he would be chained in one, too.

"You too?" A weary, yet familiar, voice asked.

Agen managed to look up. "Eeth?"

The smaller Zabrak nodded and slumped back down. "If it makes you feel any better, it's usually quick. I...I try to think of flying...just try to get away from it." His hair, too, had been clipped back to the skull and he looked exhausted. "It...it doesn't always hurt...unless...unless he j-j-just rips out..."

Half-Hand came back and crossed his arms. "Won't be long now." He cupped Eeth's chin in his good hand and made the smaller Nightbrother look at him. "Scream for me, beautiful. You always sound so pretty." He kept rubbing Eeth's chin and the bound Zabrak couldn't do anything to stop it. Until he stepped back and a Zabrak as naked as they were and with skin, the color of brilliant gold, was lead in. He was clearly drugged. Agen could smell it from there. But the things he had been dosed with, Ketamine among them, forced his limbs to stay still. All Agen could do was watch and endure as dreadful things happened.

His nightmare was coming to life.


	2. So Broken Inside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To whom it may concern...I started this several times, deleted it, started again, deleted it...you get the idea...So it's up here now

There had been a time when Eeth would have sent himself to sleep with some fantasies. One of the best he had, the one that Eeth had used several times when he was trying to get himself off ( **not** something a Jedi was supposed to do) involved Eeth and a certain clone trooper kissing. They had done it a few times, mostly followed by snuggling and petting, but it hadn't gone any farther than that. Eeth had still remembered that he was a Jedi. The clone, legally, had been his slave. And though Eeth treated the man who saved his life as an equal, there was still an imbalance of power. His savior didn't have the legal right to tell Eeth no. And that hadn't sat well with the Zabrak, so the matter had never been brought up.

Being born on Nar Shadda, and being an escapee from a breeding pen yourself made you very sensitive to things like that. Eeth found this a special kind of hell, to feel the heavier stud on top of him, roughly pounding in, and grunting. It felt like he would never stop. Eeth felt himself being rubbed raw as the stud keot pounding into him. He saw the trainer, armed with a shock stick, now no longer touching "Shotzi's Bitch". And when Eeth tried reaching out to the Force, the collar around his neck suddenly felt like a band of ice. He screamed as much as the constriction allowed. The stud snarled at him, perhaps to stay still, and slashed him across the side with one clawed hand. Eeth whimpered. He got the message and watched as his own blood dripped from the lacerations and landed on the breeding bench.

One of them, maybe Anihr, muttered a curse under his breath as he looked at the blood dripping out of his face. "Looks like Shotzi tried to get him good. What do you think, Boos, we need to get Shotzi away from him before he knots?"

Shotzi ruined that by surging up and coming with a cry. Eeth squeezed his eyes shut as he felt the familiar wash of sticky heat coat his insides. The bigger male knotted quickly and Eeth thought that he was going to come apart at the seams. The knot had to be larger than his fist. And it was wedged up so tightly in him that Eeth had no hope of getting free before it went down. The bigger stud rested almost all of his weight on top of Eeth. The tan Zabrak was thankful for the stand, without it he wouldn't have been standing up. The bigger male gave a few experimental thrusts of his hips, driving the knot up him deeper. The smaller Zabrak gasped. He tried to move, but a snarl from the bigger male stopped him.

He tried not to whimper. He really did. But it was no use and he sniffed. The knot stretched him to the point of burning. Eeth dreaded to think of the walk back to the bare run that served as their living quarters. He tried to think of his own, private ship. It's small design. The small bunk in the back where he could hoard his blankets. The places where he hid his weapons and what he'd do with them if he ever got loose. He'd kill them. **All** of them. Let the bitches free, try to get the Jedi out here...

_If there are any left. Let's face it...there's a **really** good chance there aren't any left..._

Shotzi pulled out with an audible "pop". Eeth shook in the restraints, his limbs threatening to fold underneath him. Anihr grabbed him up by the chin and the other forced something hard and cold into his gaped open hole. Eeth had long since figured that it's purpose was to keep Shotzi's seed in front of him. He could tell that they hated dealing with the studs and the fewer times they had to expose the bitches to a stud, the less chance they had of someone getting a hand bitten off. Eeth moaned after a few minutes though. He closed his eyes and tried to look away, but Agen's pained whimper cut him off.

"That's right," Anihr growled. His tormentor reached his hand down and lightly pinched the struggling Zabrak's nipple. Eeth gasped and tried to move, but the restraints cut into his limbs and forced him to stay still. "You watch that bitch get treated like he deserves." He mustered the energy for a few weak snaps at Anihr's hand, but the Zygerrian slapped him and forced Eeth to watch as Shotzi lined up behind Agen and mounted him in one brutal thrust. The smaller Zabrak screamed and tried to get away. He struggled as best he could, almost managed to buck Shotzi, and the massive stud snarled at him. He clawed Agen's down the back. Screams of pain echoed through the breeding room. Panicked, terrified eyes met his. Agen looked like he was going to pass out from the fear of it.

And that would be a mercy if he did.

The stud started pounding him, paying no heed to the screams and the cries. Eeth couldn't smell any blood beyond his own. Agen hadn't torn, yet, but there was no real way of telling. Not until they were both moved to their cage. The smaller male watched with terrified eyes and Anihr squeezed Eeth's chin. His long claws left bloody dents in the flesh and Eeth couldn't help it as one soft paw reached down to cup his genitals. He gave a soft moan as the skillful hand stroked down his caged length. Someone, the Zygerrian knew what he liked. He almost missed the heartbreakingly betrayed look Agen shot him as Shotzi started moving quicker. Eeth tried to look away, but a sharp slap to the flanks brought him back to where he was supposed to be.

Shotzi did his knotting routine again. He didn't tug his way out of Agen, perhaps sensing that the Zabrak was a terrified virgin, but he did snarl at Agen and cuffed him upside the head when he tried to struggle too much. Agen's dark skin was rapidly paling and he looked like he was going to faint. He took shuddering breaths and looked at the trainers with fear in his dark eyes. Shotzi pulled himself off and snarled. Anihr activated his stick and scorched the stud across the chest. Eeth sagged down on the bench. He tried not to hear the whimpers as Agen's probably abused entrance was plugged up, too.

A chain was clipped to his collar and Eeth slumped to the floor when he was released. The Zygerrian holding the chain kicked him, but Eeth couldn't make his limbs obey the command. Everything faded to black around him and Eeth sank down into the blessed darkness.


	3. Interlude One--Wolffe and Ahsoka

Wolffe couldn't believe that he had been this stupid. Yeah, there were better ways to get captured. He could have been like his other _vode_ , captured when they were doing something good with the galaxy. He could have been brave, going around and trying to make the galaxy a better place by stealing stuff and killing people. That was what Lassa Rhayme did on the _Opportunity_. And she even liked clones. But nope. What did Wolffe have to do? He had to decide to go off on his own way and screw stuff up. This time, he'd been caught rigging a transport to explode when it hit Coruscanti airspace. And the Imps took a pretty dim view to what they considered a "rogue clone". As the damn Inquisitor had said, Wolffe would be lucky if he was destroyed.

Being reconditioned was worse than death. Wolffe would know--they'd tried to to that to him during the Clone Wars. Now, just a few months out, it was hard for a man bred for battle to calm down. Wat he had to do was keep moving. But it was hard to do that when binders clasped his arms and made it so that he was chained upright.

The one-eyed clone sighed. He couldn't even sit down. Wolffe had kicked the bars of the cage a few times. "Hey! You might wanna consider letting an old soldier sit down! It's called common courtesy, you _di'kuts_! _Hiibir a munit kemir dayn a skotah abiiktaylir_!" Wolffe had basically yelled at them to take a long walk out a short airlock, but it wouldn't help. Even if the bucketheads could have spoken _Mando'a_. It wasn't like they would talk to a clone trooper. He was seem as less than human, a creature that barely deserved the rights to citizenship. Which made Wolffe mad. He had fought in a **war** for those _hut'uuns_. He had seen his brothers die by the hundreds. And no one had even cared. They had spat on the clones and accused them of starting a war most hadn't even wanted to fight. Wolffe still cried over losing Fives. That one hurt the most.

He had lost his closest brother that day. Lost him to a traitor named Fox.

He moved around the small cell, the chains rattling around him. Wolffe tried to ignore him. The last time the clone had been in chains was Kamino. They had had to keep clones like him chained--he was so much stronger than most men. If the clones in Clone Jail had had the strength to riot, they probably could have taken the complex in a matter of days. With few casualties. Unless you were one of the guards and you were thrown over the sides. But Wolffe remembered that hell pit all too well. The brothers there were chained and starving. They had lost all the light in their eyes. Most would die there, far from the stars that they loved.

Someone walked down the hall, to the detention center. "I assure you," the female voice said. "I've dealt with clones before. No matter how strong they are, they'lk fall all over themselves to be called "good boy" and given a pat on the head. There isn't much going on up there, Master Veehra."

Wolffe swallowed. He knew that voice all to well. _Ahsoka_. Had she fallen too? Had she been like Skywalker and made all of the clones rebel against the Jedi? Was she here to destroy him as the Jedi-killer he was? Wolffe swore softly and struggled against the binders. Nothing budged, though, and he looked around with a wild eye. He'd lost the other one long ago. Well, the orb itself was gone. It had been gouged out by a trooper with a knife in an attempt to make the clone scream. He'd refused too, though, and had bitten the man's fingertip off. Blood dripped out of the empty socket. He shook his head, sending crimson droplets everywhere. What else could he do? Why should he be forced to take what they gave him?

Was it because he was a _clone_?

The man in charge shrugged before he took the hooded Togruta in front of the cell. "I assure you, this one is almost broken. Though why you don't buy from Kamino, I'll never know. Those are very docile. Perfect for selling."

"If you have the time and patience to care for traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, and starvation," Tano countered. She winked at Wolffe, which confused him, but he got the idea that something was going on. Just what, though, he wasn't sure. He just hoped that it would be over soon. His body ached from being forced to stand for so long. Even his boots, usually comfortable, were starting to hurt. "I prefer to buy from the supplier." She handed the man a small pouch. Wolffe could tell it was full, but he wasn't sure what it was full of.

 _Pebbles_. The voice just flowed into his mind. _Pebbles Jax pulled out of a stream. But don't worry. He thinks they're credits. Two hundred of them, in fact_.

"You're going with her." Veehra bound his arms and shoved Wolffe out of the cell. He landed hard and forced himself to get up. He didn't say anything, though, and just stumbled as he walked. He had very little idea of what was going on, but he hoped that it was something better than this. He just wanted to get away from the Empire. Leave the business of trouble making to the kids and let things just go. Maybe find a farm like Cut did. That would be nice...

Ahsoka took the chains off as soon as they were out of sight. "Let me fix that eye, Wolffe." She paused and gave him a hug. "I missed you."

Something strange touched his body, then, and he just smiled and rubbed his wrists. Wolffe had no idea what was going on, but he was happy to be free. And maybe his old General had a well thought out plan for once. He just smiled slightly at that. The chances of that happening were lower than that of a Jedi deciding to release his clones during the War.


	4. Bloody Sorrow

Agen wanted to die. Jedi weren't supposed to want suicide, but then, they were captured and tortured like animals, either. A part of the young Zabrak wondered if they were still fighting the Clone Wars and this was General Grievous's way of getting new, Force sensitive fighters. They had injected the clones with midi-chlorians already. Most of them had been killed by the process, but enough had survived to make it a threat. _Project Wellspring_ , it was called. Agen wondered if this was a project in the same vein. According to the clone he'd talked too, one of the few survivors, it was misery. You vomited up your guts and waited for your brothers to die. And you couldn't stop it. That was the worst part. You couldn't stop it. The _vode_ would die with clones having to watch.

That was torture in the finest degree.

Concrete bit into his skin. Agen tried to shift around. His head felt oddly bare with the thatch of long hair he was so proud of gone. Thanks to his changing body, the hair had fallen out before it had the chance to go back. Eeth looked a little farther along. He huddled up on one side of the enclosed shed, his eyes downcast. Trying to get out of the covered, kennel style enclosure was an impossible task. Agen had almost ripped his nails out of his fingers trying to pry the chain link from the post. And it was covered with netting. That you couldn't get out of because of the live wire strung around the top of the kennel. Agen had found that one the hard way. He had the burns to prove it, too.

He kicked the sheet metal that made up their wind break. The worst part of this was the boredom. There were only so many cloud shapes you could make before you felt yourself succumb to the malaise of being a prisoner with no place to go. Some of the Nightbrothers here did work--the place doubled as a production centre for woven materials like sweatshirts and trousers, but they wouldn't let Agen and Eeth out of the kennel. Neither had any idea why, as they weren't allowed to speak the handlers. Most of them were Zygerrian anyways and spoke _Naccaa_ around the slaves. It was a very rare dialect, sadly, so neither Jedi knew what the big aliens were saying. And it made Agen **sick**.

"I thought we destroyed these things." Agen pulled the ragged quilt over to him and drew it over his hips. They had been allowed a pair of loose pants for modesty, but it was a moot point. The Zygerrians had seen both males naked. Eeth just rolled over and looked at the wall. The Nightbrothers looked like they were housed in pairs. Probably to keep discipline, and for one to not go insane. Agen actually appreciated this. As long as he didn't have to think about the trips to the shed, he was fine. Once again, he was a Jedi. And Jedi were good at compartmentalizing. "Eeth? Are you listening to me?"

The darker Zabrak shook his head. "Not really, no. I would prefer to be miserable in peace." He swallowed and rolled back over. Agen was shocked to see his eyes were wet with tears. "I...talked wit Lunar earlier." He looked down, probably trying to compose himself. "The grey said that they take the babies." He closed his eyes in sorrow and rested his hand over his stomach. "We're ruined, you know? Ruined. The Jedi won't want us back. Jedi Knights are supposed to be _celibate_. Not...get like this!" His voice was hysterical by the end of it and he looked like he was going to break down crying.

"It's not our fault." Agen huddled up on the concrete slab that served as their bed. "They have to see that it isn't our fault! We'll show them the memories or something! But it's not our fault, Eeth. We're...slaves. Just slaves. That's all. We can't be held responsible for what they do to us."

Agen looked down, his eyes wet with tears. "You don't understand. I was on the Council, Agen. We're going to be expelled from the other." He drew himself into a huddle, looking down at the ground. "They aren't going to want us anymore, okay? We did the ultimate wrong--we're going to have children. And the Order...we wouldn't get to raise them. Not realistically. Just like...like I would never get to have..."

"Your clone trooper?" Agen softly said. "The clones do talk, you know." He reached his hand over and gently stroked over the tattooed skin. "We all knew. And...I don't think anyone really cared. Maybe you loved him. Maybe he was just a really good friend. But I heard it from Kix who heard it from the Wolfpack who heard it from...you get the idea. We all knew. And no one cared, because he carried you out of that horrid base. You _deserved_ to have that." Agen had just meditated in the Temple beside one of his friends. Beyond that...he was no Knight. He didn't fight. He would have liked to heal, but the war had prevented that.

Eeth looked away. "What they did...it wasn't even the first time." One clawed hand balled into a fist. "One day, I'm going to kill Dooku." He looked up again and his bright amber eyes were shining with tears. Agen looked at him. It made sense, though. Dooku had been recorded as saying that he'd... _bred_...a virgin bitch. He supposed that it made it easier, knowing that he wasn't losing something that was already gone. "I'm going to kill him. If that's the last thing I do. One of these days, he's going to die."

Agen felt the same way. He just hoped that it came sooner rather than later.


	5. Hold Fast Your Beating Heart

Eeth had felt pain before. He knew what it was. Lord Dooku's droid had tortured him during the war for hours, if not days. He had been strung up and shocked before that _man_ had came in, saying that he knew a far better way to treat a creature that was bred to be a bitch. Eeth tried to block out that night. The Jedi counselor he had talked too, on the pleading of Tup, hadn't really helped him that much. It had just made the problem worse. Eeth had buried the pain as far as he could before getting illegal pills. Just to ensure that he "didn't have a problem". The other Jedi had thought he tried to commit suicide when they found him in a pool of blood. Not that they had truly cared. Zabraks were said to be a species ruled by their passions.

It wasn't like Eeth was deaf. He had heard the talking and the rumors. He knew what they had said about him, that he had surrendered willingly and spread his legs for the Sith. Just because he had been born in a pen on Nar Shadda didn't make him a goat! Eeth had just wished they knew that! And after what had happened with Dooku...he had been asked to step down from the Council. His only supporters, Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti, weren't there. Shaak Ti was on Kamino, trying to save cadets. Aayla was on the battle front. It was said that she fell because of a clone. If so, and she was still alive...Eeth just hoped she would sense his distress in the Force. Or, at the very least, not write him off as dead. There had to be more Jedi survivors.

But Eeth knew how strong the clones were. They couldn't use the Force, but if they just swarmed you _en mass_...it was over. Not even the greatest of the Jedi could stop them. Not even the Chosen One. Even Anakin Skywalker must have fallen under the blasters of the clones. Perhaps Tup was dead, finally destroyed for what had happened with Tiplar. It would be a bitter thing, for one of the few good memories he had to be completely destroyed. Eeth figured that was just the way things were for him. He was a Jedi and he was a cursed one like that. If he had been any better than what he was, he would have fought back. They wouldn't have caught him off guard and used him as a broodmare. Couldn't Agen see that it was all over? The Jedi didn't want them. They were _soiled_. **Broken**. _Ruined_. And they would never be pure enough for the Order again.

Eeth had come close to being assigned to the AgriCorps after what had happened with Dooku. The Jedi were no more. They were gone for good. What else could he do?

Pain rippled through his flanks as he paced through the kennel. Rain poured down, masking the entire complex with a silver veil. None of the Zyggerians ventured out of the stone houses they had. The other bitches huddled up in their own shelters and sad eyes met his. A large red male, his belly streaked with blood, had been dragged out the other day. The cause? He had miscarried a child. A beautiful copper baby, dead. And that was that for him. He was going to be left to die, bloody and tired. They at least let the soon to die bitch have the body of the dead child. Eeth doubled over again, gasping and cursing. His waters had broken hours ago. He felt the pain ripple through his body. Eeth tried not to scream or gasp. He was _strong_. He had to be...or this would kill him.

His heavy belly made him slow. Eeth stumbled, rubbing it. The child didn't kick him like it usually did, and that worried him. For all Eeth knew, they kicked during the delivery. He gasped from the pain. It hurt. Oh how it **hurt**. A particularly strong spasm made him grunt and double over. It was only his training as a Jedi Knight that made him not scream. _Labor_. That was what this was. Labor. He was in labor and it was his first time around. Adiir said it could kill him if he wasn't careful. The little golden Zabrak would know. They talked during the meal times, making them a little more than friends.

Fellow inmates in this hell.

"Lay down." Agen didn't let him say no. This time, the darker Zabrak puled him over to the slab and pulled off his pants. Eeth whined and twisted in his grip. The pains were coming stronger now, and faster. He couldn't shove them away. The old Jedi mantra of "take the heat, take the cold, take the pain, and let it go" failed him. He twisted and _screamed_. "Eeth! Eeth! It's crowning!"

It felt like it was tearing it's way out of his body, but Eeth didn't have the strength to snap back. He arched and twisted, panting. Fluids leaked out of his body and down his spread legs. He felt like a total whore. Here he was, exposed to the world... Something far too large pressed against the birthing slit and he screamed in agony. There was a horrid sounding _pop_ and the worst of the pain passed. Eeth pushed as hard as he could with his muscles. He grunted, screamed in agony. The baby was half way out of his body. Blood spattered all over him, covered his battered body.

"I've got it." Agen lightly tugged on the body. The laboring Zabrak shrieked in pain, trying to fight Agen off. Without the Force, he couldn't make the pain go away. He just had to take it... "It's here! I've got it!" Agen wiped something off with his arms before laying a small, blood soaked creature at his breast. Eeth turned his head. He didn't want to look at the thing. If he did, he would grow attached... But it rooted around and latched hold of one puffy nipple. Eeth grunted in surprise. It started sucking after a few minutes.

Eeth looked down against his better judgement. It looked like a little boy, his skin a light copper. The baby sucked on him, trying to pulled the milk down. Eeth sagged back on the slab, too exhausted to help it. He could have died and he would have been happy. It hurt...it just hurt all over. He wanted this nightmare to go away and never return.

That would take a miracle no one could bring. Not with the cursed collar around his neck.


	6. Interlude II--Tup

He had no idea why he'd carried that Jedi out of Dooku's ship. Force only knew that he didn't like them all that much. He just wanted to get out of the GAR. Was it a crime for a clone to have wants, thoughts, and dreams of his own? Was it a crime that he didn't want to be a slave anymore? Tup had been created as a weapon in a war he didn't want to fight. Him being able to read and write wasn't seen as something he needed to know. He'd only learned because Eeth taught him. And that had been one strange Jedi. Eeth was prone to blasting high powered rock music all over the Temple. It only got worse after the incident with Dooku. Tup had Eeth's secret, too. When they had found Eeth in a pool of blood...he hadn't been trying to commit suicide.

And that was as far as he'd go with **that** thought.

Tup wandered through the halls of their ship. Hondo and the Shadow Syndicate were firmly against the Empire. That was the good thing about being on speaking terms with the most annoying ass Force user in the galaxy. It was one thing if Bly wanted to wax poetic about Aayla. It was another if Slick wanted advice about Shaak Ti. But it was quite different if Maul was quizzing him about Dogma. Apparently, the Zab was as subtle as a bull bantha in a china shop. That was jacked up on glitterstim. In the rut season. That was bored. And really needed to get laid.

Yeah, he hated Maul _that_ much. Finn Ertay had been a decent Jedi and he landed her in the medical ward for six months. He'd almost killed her. Tup considered the fact that male Zabraks could get pregnant to be payback for all the hell he'd put the GAR through. And it was funny, to hear a famous Sith lord looking for the fudge. Tup just steered clear of Maul. He was hard to deal with on the best of days. But after all of this...after they got Wolffe back, he wasn't sure what to do. Wolffe wanted to find Boost, Sinker, Comet, and the others. Tup just wanted to see if Eeth was still alive. They'd only gone all the way _once_. It had been after a trip to the Jedi mind healer. It hadn't gone very well. Eeth had fallen into his arms and the next thing they knew, clothes were off, on the floor, and Eeth had been on his back.

Neither of them talked about it. It was kind of bad to know you were the one who seduced a Jedi. To know that he was the one who made Eeth feel so good. They had actually started sharing quarters. Because Eeth was seen as tainted, from the time Dooku had raped him, no one cared if Tup slept in the same bed as a Jedi. They looked at Eeth as damaged goods anyways. He was nothing to them, just a Jedi that had been made into something foul and broken. They would treat him like the broken creature they saw him as. As much as Tup hated it, that was just the way it worked. They didn't want Eeth after he had sacrificed almost everything for the Jedi Order. And the mind healer...had just made it hurt worse.

"Tup?" A tired looking Ahsoka sat beside him on the couch. She gave him a worried look and twisted a little of her lekku in one hand. "I'm...I'm really sorry. I think it's time to stop looking for Eeth. I think he's listed as KIA for a reason. He wouldn't have gone out willingly. I just...I just want you to be happy."

"I'm not giving up!" Tup climbed to his feet, gaze pained. "I'm not giving up on my Jedi! After the war, he was going to leave the Order and we were gonna to to Solaara. We could have a family. A house. We could have peace. And I can't have that because he's not with me! I know he's not dead, Ahsoka. That Zab is too stubborn to die." Tup refused to believe he was dead.

Ahsoka gave him a hug. "I did the right thing." She hugged him close, trying to soothe him. But he didn't want to be soothed. He just wanted his Eeth back. Was that too hard to ask? "I know we did the right thing." She had helped save him after Tiplar was killed.

"I'm not giving up." And he meant it


	7. To Lose It All

"No! _No_! _**Noooo**_! Leave my baby alone, you bastards!"

Agen was jolted out of his sleep. He swore a little and tried to get up. He cursed a little and grabbed at his blanket. He could see the shock sticks and the way they had Eeth pressed into the wall. The four day old screamed in his arms as one of the Zyggerians wrenched it away. The cat creatures hissed and slashed at his face. Agen tried to grab the Force. Nothing met his grasp and a shock stick got him across the face. Agen curled up in horror. He watched as they pinned Eeth and wrenched the child away. Eeth was screaming and trying to charge them. A blow landed on his swollen breast. He wailed, staggering back. Agen tried to grab his friend, but claws scratched across his face. Agen yelped.

"They took him!" Eeth collapsed into his arms, crying softly. Agen's swollen belly pressed into his side. "They...they took my son..." He closed his eyes, but tears welled up. Agen brushed a kiss over the side of his face. Clones did this all the time. That was why Agen thought he could use it here. The other Zabrak pressed into his body, sobbing. "He...he was my son..." He looked up, his eyes bright red. Agen just held him. Cold bit his bare skin and he shivered. Eeth closed his eyes again. "They took my baby..." He took a shuddering breath. "I'm...I'm going to kill them." He hiccuped. "I'm going to kill all of them. I'm going to rip their heads off lik Maul threatened to do to Mace. I...I know why now."

"I'm sorry." Agen pressed his body into his friends'. Eeth was sobbing into him. He had no idea what to do. Agen was a fighter, not a lover. His only...experiences...were the violent rapes used to get him pregnant. Oh, he was sorry. Those were "breeding sessions". Because you couldn't make the Zyggerians mad or they'd beat the hell  out of you. Well, they would wait until the baby was born. Agen was too bitter to think they'd forget. Eeth was sobbing even harder. There was a sticky mess on the blanket, caused by the milk Eeth was making. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I...I don't know what to say." But a horrid thought popped into his mind. Shaak Ti, Aayla Secura, and Ahsoka Tano weren't the only ones said to be sleeping with clone troopers. "Was...was it Tup's?"

Eeth nodded and curled up against the cold metal wall of his shelter. "I...I was pregnant after what Dooku did to me." He dropped his hands back and looked up. He was trying to bite back tears, but it was to no avail. "And...and I killed it..." He let lose a fresh batch of tears. "This is what I deserve, right? I killed one baby. I took away it's future... This is what I deserve." He dropped his head and hunched in on himself. "I deserve this. I killed it. I almost killed myself... I'm shit as a Jedi. I know it. I'm shit as a Jedi. They were right. I didn't deserve to be on the Council." Agen moved to sit beside his friend and took one clawed hand in his. He didn't know what to do, beyond just holding the other man's hand. "I killed the baby Dooku put in me and they took Tup's."

Agen pulled Eeth into his body and looked out across the compound. "It wasn't your fault." He grasped the other male's arm lightly. "I wasn't your fault. You did nothing wrong. They did that _too_ you." He was just repeating lines he'd heard a clone tell a former Twi'lek slave (those two did marry), but he hoped it worked. "You didn't invite it, Eeth. They...they hurt you. And you couldn't have raised a child. What if he took you back? What if the Order kicked you out for real? Would you die on the streets? Would it have starved? You did what you had to do." Though he wanted to knock Tup in the head. Why did the clones have to get the hots for their Jedi commanders? It was just wrong! Agen had never felt attraction, to tell you the truth.

"I miss him." Eeth rested into his side. He sniffed a little and looked down. Agen could tell that he was beyond upset. It was time to let him talk, though. He could do that. He could do that for his friend. Eeth moved a hand down what was once a pectoral. Now it was a large, swollen breast. "What am I going to  do with these, though? I don't think I'll dry up very fast..."

"I don't know." Agen had some ideas, judging by the bruises a few of the bitches had on their nipples, but he didn't want to make speculations. That was the last thing he needed to do. If they actually took his milk, Eeth was likely to go nuts. Agen, though, had heard it all as he did his job. If you asked the average criminal scum, all Twi'lek women were slave dancers and all Nightbrothers were breeding slaves. Agen had been asked where his collar was, he'd been informed that there was a "leash law in these parts--you slaves need to be restrained!", he'd been slapped and groped, they had asked when the baby was due, and what was he going to do when he had a pair of tits, huh?

There were very few people he hated, but those were top of the list.

The light brown Zabrak sagged back and looked around. He sighed before resting his hand on top of Agen's swollen belly. Agen nuzzled him lightly before cuddling with him. They watched as clouds trailed across a cold, blue sky. Agen knew it was only a matter of time before the handlers came back and took Eeth's milk. He was going to go mad. Would Eeth fall to the Dark Side? Agen had no idea what he'd do if his friend and cage mate went Dark. After a few hours, though, Eeth drifted off. Agen made sure to hold him, right up until the handlers came to take him away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments please?
> 
>  
> 
> Is anyone even reading this? Please tell me if you are...


	8. Hollow On the Inside and Shattered On the Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ....cause I did this to myself // I'm all hollowed on the inside and broken on the out

Eeth didn't have the strength to fight it anymore. They took his son. They took his dignity. They took his will to fight far more than Dooku had ever done. They left him, shivering and alone, in the back of a cage. He'd clawed his wrists bloody and watched as it pooled on the muddy ground. He still couldn't understand them. One of his "owners" had dragged him over and bandaged his wrists before slapping him in a holding cell. Eeth simply crawled into a corner and curled up. He was still bleeding from birthing his son, still sore and exhausted. But why should he still fight? They had taken his hair, the only true source of pride he had. His hair was gone and you could tell he'd given birth by looking at the marks on his body. Silvery marks were on his belly now, proof that he had borne a son, only to lose him.

The light brown Zabrak curled in a little ball. The "vet" had came earlier and attached something like a pump to him, taking the pressure off. It had became painful after awhile, but no one cared if Eeth cried out. When he tried to claw at that, his hands were restrained. Now, they didn't try to cut his nails off. Eeth knew why. If they chopped off his nails, they ruined his hands. A Zabrak's nails were _alive_. There was a small blood vessel and a nerve in each one. To cut off his nails was to butcher his hands. Eeth would lose the articulation needed for him to work in the sweatshop area. He wasn't sure what they were making, but it looked like a type of garment. Eeth would think it was armor from the light weight, yet strong properties of the material.

He hung his head between his legs. Eeth figured he wouldn't get that much of a rest between the births. After all, he wasn't made to give milk like a goat was. He'd give milk for a few weeks and then it would be back to the studs for him. Someone walked outside the cell and murmured. Eeth could hear sniffing. There was fear scent, too. He didn't know the owner, meaning it wasn't Adiir or Agen. It was...someone else? Underneath all the fear, pain, shit, and piss, though, Eeth knew that scent. After all, he'd made sure to know as many people as possible. Not all Zabraks were as foul as Darth Maul was. Eeth had tried to prove that Maul had been the exception, not the norm.

Though he had brushed with the Dark Side after the loss of his son.

Eeth tried to shove his feelings away, but it hurt too much. The pain was too raw, too fresh. He couldn't let it go like the Jedi Order required that he did. He looked up after a few minutes. The last thing he needed was to deal with another guard. Eeth wasn't fertile right now. Plus, Zabraks and Zyggerians weren't fertile together. It would be nothing to force the weaken male to bend over a chair or something. He watched the door with dulled eyes. Could he fight back? Could he even **try**? Eeth wasn't sure. He was so tired and so defeated that he didn't think he could force himself to do it. It just hurt to even think about. He shuddered and curled up into a half naked lump on the floor.

"Master Eeth!" A much smaller Zabrak, his skin dusty orange to his brown, was tossed into the cell. He curled up as he landed on the floor, his blue eyes terrified. The young male curled into a ball. But he raised his head after a few minutes and crawled over. Eeth forced himself up and grabbed him in a hug. Jiro pressed his head into Eeth's shoulder. The older Zabrak felt hot tears wash over his body. Jiro was _sobbing_. He'd grabbed hold of the other man's robes and his flanks shook. "I'm...I'm scared..."

"I know," Eeth murmured. He nuzzled the younger Zabrak, trying to calm him down. Jiro reeked of the studs. The young male couldn't have been older than twenty. His horns hadn't fully grown in and he moved like he was very sore. The smaller male curled up, his eyes squeezed shut. Eeth forced himself to purr. He nuzzled Jiro a little more, trying to get him calm. Eeth could smell the spicy, sharp scent of come on Jiro's body. He was far too young to even start thinking of breeding. "Did you hide?" He expected as much. Nightbrothers were vulnerable. And a young one like Jiro? Even more so. Jiro nodded. "I'm sorry. I...I thought you got away. I thought you were able to get away."

Jiro looked at him. "They hurt you, too." He moved to nuzzle Eeth. "You smell like milk and something...bitter? Like you're tired."

Eeth blinked. "You're sharp." He'd forgotten how quick the young man was. He nuzzled the other man warmly. "Agen will be livid." He purred as much as he could, trying to deal with all that had happened. He was a slave now. He couldn't fight back. But he had the young man he wished had been his padawan. Jiro wasn't defeated like he was. Jiro was young and strong. He had _hope_. He could fight back. He could figure out a way to get the damned collars off and out of the cages. For the first time in almost a year, Eeth had hope. He could _get out of here_. He could _fight back_. He could try to escape these cages and take his baby son back. The little boy had had a head of dark hair, typical of hybrid babies.

Jiro nuzzled the older man. "We will get through this," he softly said. He purred a little, ragged in the cool air. "We'll escape and we'll fine the others."


	9. Interlude II--Say Something I'm Giving Up On You

Tup huddled on the edge of his bunk, trying not to cry. What if Ahsoka was right? She had called off the search for Eeth and Agen for a reason. They hadn't heard anything about either man for almost a year now. The poor Zabrak could have been yanked right back to Zyggeria and used for breeding. That was what Dooku had threatened to do before, He had said that he'd breed Eeth until the man died from bearing. And that he would take the milk... Tup hadn't heard much of that conversation. He'd just heard enough to know that he had to get his Jedi out of there. but by then, it had been too late. Blood and semen had been running down his legs. Tup had taken Eeth to the healers. They had confirmed what he had feared--Dooku had ruined his Jedi.

"I can't give up on you," Tup whispered. He got to his feet and looked around the ship. It had been a good home for a little bit, but he belonged with his little Jedi. He grabbed his blaster and looked around. They needed to get out of here. He needed to find Eeth. Even if his little Jedi had been  turned into a breeding bitch, Tup didn't care. He needed to get his Jedi before they destroyed him. He'd heard the stories the _vode_ had told after they visited a Zabrak whore. One of them had even asked Tup if he was still tight. The Jedi had flung that trooper into a fountain. Master Yoda just looked the other way. Turn about was fair play. There were somethings you just didn't joke about. What had happened to Eeth was one of them.

He shook Sinker and tried to get the grey haired trooper up. "Hey! Hey! I need to talk to you!" All members of the Wolffepack slept like rocks. Sinker was no exception and simply rolled over. Tup grabbed him out of the bed and dropped him on the cold steel deckplates. Sinker _screamed_ and bolted up. "Good. You're up. Look, I need you to tell Ahsoka that I'm not giving up. She didn't give up on Wolffe and I'm not giving up on Eeth. I know he's out there."

Sinker yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. But he nodded and grabbed for his pants. Like many clones, Sinker slept in the nude. "I'll go with you if you let me get some caff or something. I'm just not used to keeping these weird hours."

"You do that. I'll go to the hanger and try to get something small." Tup grinned at his brother and went to find a small shuttle. Eeth was going to need a lot of care. The last time he'd been captured, the time Dooku had ripped something irreplaceable away from his Jedi, it had taken Eeth several weeks to get used to having a bed buddy. And then, them being two hormonal young men, things had happened. They had started "making out" as the others called it. Eeth had been scared of being taken and that was understandable. Tup hadn't been too thrilled about being knotted. There had been several times he had showed up for training with a severe limp. But he would have done anything for his little Jedi, even if it meant he had to take something the size of a fist up his ass.

He settled in the cockpit of a small ship. It didn't look like much, just a small transporter with a hyperdrive. Tup had left a note in the galley. Pretty much, it said _IOU one ship, Tup_. And he'd give her that ship back. Or he would take Cut up on his offer to get a job. He just couldn't leave Eeth where he'd be tortured. There had been things Eeth told him Tup knew he could never tell anyone else. If the Jedi knew what he had done, to rid himself of Dooku's seed...he would have been exiled, if not imprisoned. The Council would have said Eeth willingly deprived them of a very powerful Force user. Tup thought that was a load of bantha poodoo. Though, in his fantasies, he did see Eeth round and heavy with child.

Not that the proud Jedi would ever allow such a thing to happen to him.

Sinker got in the ship and tossed a bag of supplies in the back. "Thank Wolffe. He said he'll tell Ahsoka what happened." The other ARC took the co-pilot role and watched as Tup keyed in the codes to get out of there. "You okay? You look kinda upset."

"I did sleep with him." Tup eased the little ship into space, past the ion net that kept air in the ship. He had no idea how it worked. The clone set the ship to paint a nice vector and turned to look at his brother. "I was with him every night for over two years, Sinker. Yes, we slept with each other. But it was more than sex, if that makes sense. _I love him_. I can't give up! I know he's still out there!"

Sinker nodded. "I know how you feel. The Empire has Comet listed as KIA. But I know he's not! My _vod'ika_ is out there, somewhere." He swallowed and looked away. "We can't leave them behind. We have to save them."

Tup keyed in the coordinates for Nar Shadda. There were going to be dead _bar'ves_ when he found his Jedi again.


	10. Broken Angels

Agen felt the pains maybe three or four days after they took Eeth. He paced in the small run, rubbing at his belly. Due to his impending birth, he had been separated from the others. It was thought that a stud would grab him and Claim him. In his pain, Agen thought that that might not be such a bad thing. The breeders had had this happen before. They never mentioned names, but they had had a stud grab a  bitch and his babies. That stud was said to be a clone, though, and resistant to the drugs they used. Agen wondered if he was going to die here. He wasn't young, straight off of Zyggeria. He was over sixty years old. In this world, he was ancient. And his hips...they were almost too narrow for this.

Pain spasmed up his back. Agen doubled over and grabbed at his belly. Eeth had gotten on the bench and puled his pants off. Agen tried to do that. He clawed at his stomach and the pain that was stabbing. It was like a thousand knives were stabbing him. They were white hot and coated with a terrible poison. He screamed. One of the patrolling guards looked at him before going on about her business. Agen's eyes rolled up in the back of his head, rubbing at the stomach. This hurt so badly... He clawed again and tried not to wail his pain. They didn't care. And it hurt so _bad_.. Agen groaned and managed to pull off his loose pants. The rough duracrete dug into his skin, but he didn't care. Not as his waters burst.

What followed after, Agen tried to block out. He could feel himself pushing down and making him scream. How, how it hurt! He couldn't stop himself from wailing his pain. They had him in the birthing barn and locked away from all the others. A few cells down, a blue Zabrak twisted and tried to pass his own child into the world. Agen gasped in agony. He felt it going through his body and forcing open virgin flesh. Adiir said that the first one hurt the worst. Agen would not filly dilate until the child crowned. And even then...if he didn't have the strength to continue... He could help himself from arching up his back and _wailed_. How did Zabraks stand this?! Why didn't they fight back?! Why didn't they use the strength of their numbers?

Agen knew why. The Zabraks were beaten down by life. Pregnancy after pregnancy after pregnancy, until the Zabrak was dead... Agen knew what was going to happen to him here. He wailed and clawed a little more. It felt like his body was ripping itself apart! He could hear the blue Zabrak grunting and crying out. Agen wished he could hold the male's hands and try to comfort him... The child crowned. It literally _popped_ , a wet and squelchy sound. Fresh waves of agony washed over Agen's battered body. He could feel his torn muscles weaken, but he forced himself to keep going. He grunted and pressed down. Inch by inch, the little one pressed into the world. It was so slow that he thought it would never happen. He heard himself wail in agony until the baby's cries split the air.

Instinct took over. Agen reached between his own bloodied legs and nipped the cord with his teeth. He panted, holding the tiny, blood soaked face towards his chest. It was so tiny in his arms, so small and fragile. Agen stroked the face and wondered why he had been forced to bear it. He nuzzled at the little boy and let his instincts take over. He cleaned its face and airways with his tongue, much like a cat. That made the little one start fussing. It started rooting around after a few minutes and Agen pressed it's little face into his breast. The child sniffed around for a few seconds before latching on. Agen grunted. It felt very strange to have a baby nurse from him, but he had to feed it that way.

"I think we'll keep him." One of the guards, the only one that spoke Standard around the slaves, walked down the rows of cages. He stopped in front of Agen's and nodded. "Better keep him, rather than the one who has twins. We might lose him."

Agen looked at him and snarled. "Touch him and you die!"

The guard laughed. "I'm sorry," he retorted as he walked away, "I don't speak bitch." He looked Agen over, at the sweaty mess he was, at the milk swollen breasts and the way his manhood had grown limp and bare. "And that is all you are. Your disgusting species is neither male nor female. If you ask me, you all deserve to be on Nar Shadda, but that isn't my place."

And with those parting words, he left a terrified Agen cuddling his baby close. He couldn't let them touch this little one. Ever.


	11. Heartbeats

Because of his small size, Jiro swelled up faster than Eeth or Agen had. The small orange male had the worst of it, too. Clutching his belly and vomiting, never able to keep anything down. Eeth didn't know what to do. The teas he had looked into, as a part of his self torture, weren't a part of the diet here. And why would the Zyggerians care enough to give a sickly little male the tea he needed? He was just a breeder to them. Eeth rested his head in his hands, trying not to cry. Already, his belly swelled with yet _another_ pregnancy. It was a vain hope that he would be allowed to keep this one, too. His...tits...were sore from making milk still. Agen said he still had the sweet milk-scent of a nursing mother.

Eeth paced in the run. It seemed to rain a lot on this planet and the slavers neglected to give the slaves blankets. The small tan male didn't know why. And the second he felt a little hair sprout at the base of his skull, it was shaved away. He had mixed blood. It showed. His first baby, the tiny red skinned boy he had delivered in the rain, had had a full head of dark hair. It had looked like what it was--a hybrid that was three quarters human. Would he still be sold? Or would the Zyggerians just shrug and sat that he deserved being bent over by a human? Another one of the... _breeders_...a very slight male named Draxu, had been owned by a Sith. And they said (when the Zygerians bothered to speak Standard) that the mute bitch had bitten his old owner one too many times. Because of that, Draxu had been sold quickly and promptly knocked up with a batch of babies.

Just like Eeth had been. **Again**. And he had no way to fight back from it. Even though the birthing ripped through his body and he still remembered the way each of his children, his _little ones_ , smelled. In some way, Eeth knew he would know every single one of his children if he saw them again. He had no way of knowing _if_ he would get to see them again. His oldest boy was probably taken away from him and destroyed. Eeth knew that Force sensitives were destroyed. As much as it pained him, the Zabrak sometimes envied them. The little babies, mostly boys, would never know the pain their parents had gone through and would become one with the Force. Adiir said that those never left the hand of God.

Adiir was a strange one, having come from a private owner before this. The man claimed to have a faith, but he treated his slaves like filth. Because Adiir was a gorgeous golden yellow, the man had arranged to have the Zabrak bred to a stud he considered beautiful. However, Adiir had a slight problem. It turned out that Adiir had a liking for humans and had slept around with several of his Master's slaves. To hear the slightly cheeky male tell the story of how he'd managed to seduce a man "more handsome than anything else in this cursed galaxy!" was to smile. Eeth didn't know where he would be if he didn't have the smaller male's warmth and love. Adiir kept him sane.

"How long has it been?" the smaller male almost purred. He arched his back a little more as Agen worked his horns. Jiro still clung to the Jedi ways and that included no touching of horns. However, Eeth could appreciate an orgasm that wasn't part of his own rape. Sometimes, things happened and the studs hit the right places. "Since you three-- _oh_! Right **_there_**!" Adiir arched his back up and yowled, clipped claws scrabbling the ground. His chest was heaving rapidly as he came down off the high.  "Came here?" He gave Agen a happy purr and twisted as best his limp body could take it. "You kriffin' Jedi. Always gonna come on and tell me what to do, aye?" It was clear from his tone that he was joking.

Eeth sat down on the ledge and shrugged. "Three years," the  male softly said. "Right about that, I think. It's been three pregnancies for me..." And a Zabrak carried for eight to nine months. As the Zyggerians said, that put them between cows and banthas. Agen thought it was about like a human pregnancy.

Jiro looked at his body. "This is disgusting." He was only nineteen, far too young to be having babies. Of all of them, possibly Eeth and Agen were the only ones of age. Adiir was probably thirty at the oldest. "I hate this!"

"It's just your body," Adiir murmured. He forced himself to his feet. It had only been about a week since he'd had the last one and his body was still bleeding from the birth. Adiir was dry, though. He couldn't make milk and that came from a hormonal issue. However, the smaller male had easy births and it was said that all of his had the same skinny, dainty body and sunny outlook. The aggression possibly came from the stud, the breeders argued. It _couldn't_ come from the sweet little Zabrak that cuddled with his friends all the time. Jiro melted into Adiir's arms, his shoulders shaking. Eeth touched him gently. Adiir would never understand this, but the three Jedi were ruined by this. "This is natural, little one. It happens all the time on Dathomir and Iridonia."

"But to mates," Jiro sniffed. He wrapped arms around Eeth and dragged him into the cuddle pile. Eeth was dreading his next pregnancy, but allowed the smaller male to pull him close. "When I was a padawan, I wanted to have a mate. I-I almost asked Eeth what it felt like to be with his clone..."

Eeth sputtered. "Who else knew?!"

Agen glared as he rubbed over his belly. "You're as subtle as bantha in a china shop, okay? We all knew! Those of us who could sniff, that was! How many meetings did you go to with...that **clone**...dripping out of you?! Because believe you me...no one goes to Council meetings with a smile on their face!"

"That was possibly when Tup asked if he could have my knot," Eeth purred. And that had been one hell of an experience, too. "So I was dripping out of him and he asked for it." This was mostly for shock value, because he wanted to shut Agen up. Jedi he might have been, but his temper was short these days and repeat pregnancies didn't help it any. "What? We were both consenting adults. It was more than Dooku ever gave me!"

The darker male just growled. "I'm done talking to you."

"Got him," Eeth murmured as he kissed Adiir lightly. "You owe me a horn rub."


	12. Interlude III--I'm Losing Hope

Tup didn't want to lose his hope. It was all he had, that there would be a miracle and his Eeth would come back to him. Though after what Maul had said, it was too much to hope for that Eeth would be the same strong and hale and hearty man that he once was. The Red Zabrak had never been bred, but he had certainly heard what had happened to Zabs abused that way. A tiny blue male, adopted by Shy, Slick, Jester, and Sketch had been through that same hell. He had just been rescued before more permanent damage could be done to him. Tup didn't want Eeth to be broken. He loved the Zabrak, had loved him for several years before the beautiful male was captured by Dooku and abused. But what could he say? The Jedi would just see Eeth as damaged goods.

Especially if there were children. Eeth might not even want the kids he had. The tattooed clone trooper knew from an Imperial contact that all captured Jedi, if they were the right alien race, had been fitted with collars and sold as slaves. The breeding pens were always looking for fresh blood. It stood to reason that one of them had taken Eeth, just because he was young, fertile, and a Zabrak. Those **monsters** wouldn't care if Tup was untouched or not. That...that made the clone suck to his stomach. He knew how much purity meant to the Jedi. Eeth was no different and he was very ashamed that he hadn't been able to give Tup the honor of being his first. The clone tried to be supportive, but even so...he was floundering. He had no real idea of what to do.

Sinker put his arms around Tup, trying to soothe him. "You're worried." The older clone sighed and walked to the bridge. Wolffe had commed earlier. He was a little upset that the ship had been stolen, but he understood. If it had been Ahsoka, Tup knew Wolffe would have gone to the ends of the galaxy to try and save her. It was a fact that he loved her. Sinker sighed and pulled at Tup, trying to get him to flop down. They had been searching for, what, four years? They had been scouring the galaxy for one man. A...a man that might not even be alive. Sinker sighed and hugged Tup. "I'm worried about Comet. We...we haven't found either of them." The grey haired clone sighed and sat down. He was getting much slower these days. "Do you think...?"

"I don't want them to be dead." Tup didn't look at the stars. Once, they had been something he loved. Now, the cold darkness of space reminded him of what he had lost. When they had been on a ship, Eeth had curled into Tup's arms and watched the stars with him. Tup knew for a _fact_ that he was the reason why Eeth hadn't yanked out his tubes in the medical bay. "I don't know what we'll do if we've lost both _Comet'ika_ and Eeth." The clone sighed and looked at the same dull ceiling. What did he want? He wasn't sure of it, just that he wanted Eeth to be with him. "We were going to leave after the war was over, you know? He had a little place on Naboo. I don't know how Eeth bought it. But he was going to get my papers and he was going to leave the Jedi Order. We would have been happy."

And now...that chance was gone. Possibly forever.

"I think we need to go home," Sinker softly said. The clone looked at his hands. Tup ignored the sniffle. After he had shot Tiplar, Tup had done a lot of crying. He had done a lot of soul searching, too. There wasn't much to do on a slow freighter to Kamino. Tup counted it as the greatest thing that ever happened with Ahsoka took that ship by storm. "We're needed back with the others. Wolffe...Wolffe sent me a comm. They found a few _vode_ and they're really sick. Dare and Blitz. Dare is just a kid, but he's half dead. There's a reject named Ghost, too. And I've heard that Ghost is a real piece of work. They need us there and we need to help our brothers. Maybe...maybe we need to admit that we lost them."

Tup nodded, trying to fight back the tears. "I'm so sorry," he whispered. The clone got up and walked, trying to find the comm. It hurt so much, knowing that he had failed both his brother and his Jedi. They had been taken from him far too soon and that wasn't ever fair. Tup tried to find the fantasies he had of finding Eeth again. He wrapped them up, mentally, and tried to store them where they wouldn't hurt anymore. "I'm so sorry that we couldn't find you. I'm so, so sorry."

He meant every bit of it. It felt like he was being stabbed through the heart as he went to tell Ahsoka that he and Sinker were coming home.  


	13. A Single Chance In Hell

Eeth could feel the ice from his collar start to go down a little bit. He twisted his head around, absently feeling the place where the collar had sunk it's twisted power into his skin and claimed him as a slave for the Empire. By his count, he had had five kittens here. Poor Jiro had had three, the last one nearly being a miscarriage that would have cost him his life had he lost the kittens. Eeth shuddered to think of what would have happened had the orange Nightbrother been cast out with kittens still inside him. A human worked for the Zyggerians now, a cruel man named Master Andre. He often took pride in slapping the three former Jedi across the face. Eeth knew from Adiir that breeding from Force sensitive stock was a very rare thing and all three males were lucky to be alive.

His little kitten, the boy born that was three quarters human and the rest purebred, pedigreed stud, was most likely dead. The Zyggerians would have seen his head of dark hair and knew. He would have been sent to the pit fighting rings if he was lucky and tossed aside forever if he wasn't. His little boy would have died before he was hours old. Eeth swallowed back the tears as he pressed into Jiro. Once again, his belly was starting to swell with kittens. Adiir was much farther along, but he was used to this life and he understood what happened. Jiro was such a tiny Zabrak that each pregnancy looked like a twisted abomination on his frame. The Zabrak shuddered to think of it. Eeth understood that they were just property here. Not even real beings that could be loved and cared for. They were just property to be used and abused as their owners saw fit.

Andre came by after a few hours. It was so cold that you could see your breath in the air. Eeth shivered a little bit. He was so cold now and his filthy Jedi robes did nothing to keep him from freezing. The Zyggerians allowed him to keep the clothing as a reminder of how far he had fallen. The three Jedi were prime targets for young slavers who liked to exert their dominance over the traditional Zyggerian foe. Eeth's backside often ached from being taken to the stud so often, even when they knew he had a kitten, and from the young males using him as they own, personal pleasure slave. Zyggerians were barbed like a male Togruta. Even worse so, in fact. The toms could make one of the three Jedi bleed for hours. No molly wanted anything to do a former slave that might have been sick and had produced kittens. Not even the Jedi Order would want the three of them back. They might take the kittens (after all, his kittens were innocent), but they wouldn't want the parents!

_Would it kill them to move us to a barn?_

Eeth shivered a little bit. He raised his tired head and looked up as Andre walked in front of their cage. He dropped a few handfuls of raw meat in the bucket before he walked off. Eeth was so relieved that he didn't make the Zabraks do something demeaning that he almost cried in relief. That part of him that used to be a proud Jedi recoiled at the thought of him being so pathetically grateful. But Eeth no longer had the luxuries of the Jedi Temple. He didn't have access to a shower, to a flush toilet, a place to store his food, clean clothing to wear, or even a decent bed for him to sleep on. Instead, all he had was this filthy little cage and his three cagemates. It was so crowded in there that tempers often flared. Eeth had been clawed more than once.

What if the collar came off? Eeth could hardly dare to hope that his cursed collar had ran out of batteries. He took a deep breath and ran his hands over the lock. It gave a little bit of a buzz, but not the nasty shock that had made him scream before. It still hurt, yes, but he wasn't getting pounded by an electric pike, either. Eeth took a breath and started trying to work the buckle off with his hands. He hardly dared to hope that he would be freed. And if he was, the first thing he would be doing was rescuing his kittens from this hell. He might not have had the milk to feed them, but Adiir did. Adiir was _dripping_ with the stuff! Eeth was ashamed to admit that in his darkest moments he had nursed from his friends and allowed them to nurse from him. If anything, it relieved the pressure. It also did something to his endorphin levels and made him feel slightly better.

After about five minutes of working the collar, it came off in his hands and dropped to the hard packed dirt that served as their floor.

Feeling suddenly surged back into Eeth's body. He could _see_ again! Senses, touch, taste, and smell, it all became magnified by a thousand. He doubled over, clasping at his filthy robes. He could feel every single flea that crawled over his body, see their individual aura in the Force, and it made him want to cry out with pleasure. He could see, he could hear, he could drink the wind and _he could grab the meat from the bucket without having to go over and get it_...! Eeth wanted to double over, he was so stimulated by the information he was getting through the Force. And then he felt it. A tiny flicker in the Force, a miniature stirring if you will. Eeth could feel his kitten, his **_baby_**. It was alive and well, and _it knew him_... He dropped his hand over his stomach and caressed the slight bulge.

"Hello, little one." Eeth felt his face break out into a rare smile as he stroked his stomach. He felt an answering pulse in the Force and imagined that it was a little hand reaching for his. "I'm going to get you out of here. You're gonna be born free. I _promise_."


	14. Getting Out of Here

Agen was actually asleep when it happened. The darker Zabrak didn't actually _feel_ his collar come off. He just knew that he was asleep and his body was really tired. He had given birth so many times and his body was getting ready to go through all that mess again. He was just so tired of this that he just wanted to **die**. He wanted his body to just fade away and go away. He didn't care about his kittens. How could he? He'd just been able to nurse them for a week. All these years later, his milk still hadn't dried up. He still dripped thick, rich milk whenever they jostled his chest. Jiro, poor, poor Jiro, had been close to him. He had hid his kittens and the little male hadn't gotten big like he should have. Jiro was a baby that had babies. Agen might have thought it was sick, but there was nothing he could do. He was just a Zabrak. Just a slave. He was seen as nothing in this galaxy of theirs.

"Agen! Agen! You have to get up!" Someone was shaking him, nipping his ear with sharp teeth. Agem just rolled over. He could smell and feel that it was a friend, so he really didn't care. He just weakly pushed the other man back with the Force... Wait a second. He _pushed the other man back with the Force_. Agen jumped up with a start. He moved faster than he had in ten years. The dark brown Zabrak looked at Eeth with wide eyes. Eeth threw his arms around the other man, smiling softly. Agen melted into his embrace. "I did it. I did it, Agen. I got the damn collar off..." Eeth trailed off. His eyes, once so pained and injured, were alive with hope and joy. Agen wouldn't have minded if Eeth hadn't been choking him. "We're free! We're _finally free_!"

"You forget that we have to get out of here," Agen softly said. He sighed and looked at the electric wire running along the top of their cage. He knew for a fact that the wire never stopped being all lit up. Agen knew that because the power had gone out once. There had been a massive thunderstorm and lightning had hit one of the power station spires. It had exploded, lightning up the sky for hundreds of miles around. Agen had taken the chance. He tried to climb up and made the mistake of grabbing the hot wire. It had lit him up and made him scream in agony. It turned out that the complex had a generator system and simply used that to keep the more dangerous slaves in. Agen grimaced as he paced through the run. They only had a few hours before the handlers came by with food. Eeth bent down and woke Jiro after he removed the collar.

"We can unlock the cage with the Force," Eeth finally said. He quickly walked to the front of the cage and focused on the heavy lock. Agen helped Adiir up, grimacing at his tiny body. They were going to have to save the kittens, weren't they? Jiro had two at the complex. Agen had seven. Eeth had ten. Poor Adiir had eleven, plus one that was going to need nursing. Agen growled when he looked at his soaking chest. He knew he was pregnant again, too. This...this wasn't going to be good. It only took Eeth a few seconds before he unlocked the hated door and eased the run open. Agen slipped out, passing the weaker ones on ahead. There were shipd around here, but they would have to find them. Agen trusted his nose. He found that he slipped right back into his old ways of combat and started running to where they had the creche. He was going to save his kittens. No matter if he hadn't wanted them, he wasn't going to leave his kittens in hell!

Jiro found his two first. Getting into the creche was very easy. Locked doors were little more than suggestions to a Force user. The tiny orange male knelt down beside a young grey male and an even smaller golden male. He scooped up his kittens and quickly placed them so they could feed. Eeth and Agen ignored him. This late at night, almost no one would be around. And if someone did come around, Agen would snap their necks. His heavy belly slowed him down as he started walking around. He trusted his nose and the Force. His seven kittens  might be together. He hoped that they had the Force. They would know each other, he was sure of it. Agen had faith in the Force.

A very thin white Zabrak looked up from a knot of seven Zabraks. His bright green eyes searched Agen. There was a tiny kitten in his arms. Agen almost wailed. He would know his daughter anywhere! But he didn't grab the Zabrak, he just stayed back. He knew he could scare his son into dropping the kitten. He turned his head away, taking a few heavy breaths. He could smell his children! He knew they were right there, but he couldn't scare them. His tiny little girl could get dropped...and killed by her brother. Just because he was scared of his own mother. Agen whined softly and opened his hands. His daughter started squirming in her brother's arms. She mewed for her milk.

"Samot..." Agen softly said.

The little white Zabrak nodded. "Mama?" he replied. The Zabrak edged forwards until he touched Agen's hands. Agen started purring, trying to make his son feel better. The little Zabrak suddenly pressed into Agen, crying softly. After a few minutes, the other five looked up. Samot turned his little head and beamed. "Brata! Varo! Gerau! Kestor! Taka! It's our mama! Our mama came back for us even though the vets said he didn't care!" It took a few minutes, but the other five slowly pressed into him. Agen gave a proud purr and nuzzled with some of his children.

"We have to go," he softly said. He took Desraa from her brother and pressed the tiny one close so she could drink his milk and make his chest stop burning. The kitten got the hint and latched on quickly. "We have to hurry, little ones." He took Kestor's hands and started leading his brood towards freedom.


	15. Interlude IV: I'm Moving On

Tup held the little cadet to him. He knew that things were bad out in the galaxy at large. He had seen it first hand. And the kid had known not to bother Rojo. The big red Zabrak, named for his skin color, was a breeding cast off. As far as they could tell, he wasn't pregnant. That was a good thing, too. Rojo's chest had been worked over with a straight razor, almost effectively destroying his mammary tissue. As Rogue, the odd eyed Rogue, out it, Rojo couldn't make milk. The fluid would pool in his chest and cause him agonizing pain. That was why everyone was thankful they had no kittens. What the little cadet in his arms, Bone, had done was surprise Rojo. Rojo reacted like a frightened, abused Zabrak did and clawed the kid across the face.

"Let's get you to medical, _ad'ika_ ," Tup softly said. He picked the kid up carefully, after he sponged off the blood. Bone looked at him with wide hazel eyes and cried softly. The little boy was still tiny from a lack of nutrition. He had been imprisoned on Kamino because he was slow. Not mentally retarded, those were always destroyed, just slow. Bone had a hard time learning what other clones picked up in a flash. The little boy grabbed a chunk of Tup's shirt and hid his little face. Tup cuddled the little boy close. He rather liked the kid. After all, he was nice. And they would keep him close so he could heal. Tup short timed it to medical. As it was, he needed to talk to Rogue. They were going to sterilize Rojo. It was in everyone's best interest.

" _Vod_?" Bone shifted around as Tup entered the cool, brightly lit room. Rogue liked to burn incense. He knew how to get all the fancy ones, too, and the room was usually perfumed. But today, there was no perfume. It smelled like a typical medical bay. Bone shifted around a little more and got an eyeful of Ahsoka Tano. She and Wolffe were sitting on one of the beds. It looked like Wolffe had gotten burned during some kind of training. He had the scorch marks like he'd been shot. Tup knew those marks. He had them himself. Bone turned into a little wiggly ball of cadet and jumped down from Tup's arms as he came barreling across the room. "Vodie! Vodie! _Vodie_!" He launched himself into Wolffe's arms and grabbed the older ARC around the neck in a hug. "Vodie!"

"Hello, _ad'ika_." Wolffe cursed as Ahsoka applied a thin layer of kolto to the burned skin. For a clone, kolto was considered so precious that medics had considered stealing it from the mercenaries employed to fight beside them. Bacta made healing much faster and reduced scarring. Kolto was magic for burns and broken bones. He caught Tup's look and grimaced. "Yeah. Me and Maul decided we were going to go head to head. I'm not sure which one of us were showing off--me or him! But he gave me a fight like I haven't had in _years_!" He gave Tup a crooked smile. "You couldn't go wrong with him, you know. I'm not one to say this, but you couldn't do wrong with Maul ** _or_** Dogma."

"He does look at you," Ahsoka chimed in. She finished cleaning up the room and gave her boy friend a quick kiss on the cheek. Wolffe turned around and gave her an adoring look. Ahsoka returned it and helped the one-eyed clone up. He yawned a little bit, tired from the fight. Tup wordlessly handed Bone to Ahsoka. No words needed to be said. After all, this had happened several times before. Bone hadn't learned yet. He would, it would just take him longer. The Togruta started wrapping up the wounds swiftly. She was good at playing medic...far too good if you asked Tup. But no one ever did and he just kept his big trap shut. "It takes an idiot to miss the fact that he's been watching you for, what? Ten years now? Eeth isn't coming back, Tup. I can't feel him. No one can. I hate to say it, but your lover is dead."

"I know." Tup looked down and tried to hide the tears. He was a clone. He never cried. He was trained to be strong and tough and proud. Not this shivering mess that couldn't take the loss of a lover he was never supposed to have. He sighed and hugged himself. Eeth was dead. He had to be. The alternative was too much to think about. Tup could imagine his sweet, brave Jedi Master as dead. He just couldn't see Eeth as a breeding bitch, forced to produce litter after litter of kittens. Rojo had lived that life. He was proof of how much it broke you, if nothing else. "What does Dogma say about him?" He forced himself to stay calm and reminded himself that there was no shame in moving on from a dead man. "Beyond that Maul is just the best thing since pre-sliced bread, of course."

Ahsoka smiled and touched his shoulder. "Why don't you ask him? There's no time like the present!"

Tup tried to ignore the stabbing pain in his heart as he agreed.


	16. Trial and Error

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoooly shit, I am so sorry! 
> 
> Please forgive me?

Eeth had eight kittens and at least two more on the way. He could feel them in the Force, pressed against each other. These would be born in freedom. They would be fat, nourished from his milk. They wouldn't be like the scared creatures huddling in the back of the ship they stole. Eeth still counted his lost kitten as one of his. He would never get to hold his oldest boy, nor would he ever get to bury his head in his sweet scent. He didn't know how old his little baby would be now, but he knew his oldest would still need a mother. Eeth mourned for the little one who had been taken from him. He could still feel the kitten in the Force. Just barely, though. A flicker. Nothing strong, but his kitten was still alive.

Ataase came around quickly. Eeth still dripped milk and that tended to make wearing a shirt problematic at best. The Zyggerians had even taken his milk from him and made him dry. Despite the others wailing about it, Eeth had enjoyed the process. It relieved the pressure in his breast, at least for a little while. But the milking only made the problem worse. His body thought he had a greedy kitten taking from him at all times and just ramped up production until he was constantly hungry. His back ached, too. If he didn't have the milk taken from him, his nipples turned red and swollen. He would cry out at the very touch, knowing as he did that the Zyggerians would take every chance they could to destroy their battered enemy.

His yearling daughter was hungry. That started it out. Eeth was crying out from the pain in his chest, desperate for something to ease it. In total desperation, he put the two youngest at his chest and let them nurse. Their baby sharp teeth hurt at first, but it soon eased into something that made him hum with pleasure. Eeth curled his babies close, then. They had all came, from Manou to tiny Padra, still carried in her brother's arms. Manou and Samot where the oldest two. Thwy would have to be the men of the house and help out with the babies when the adults needed them. Jiro, especially, needed the help. He could hardly manage his two boys, Ragar and Nata. They even drained him dry to the point that Eeth had to help feed his babies. Such a thing would never happened in the pens.

Adiir had only been able to recover four out of his eleven kittens: Sata, Keku, Tersaa, and Vuqa. All of the breeders named their little ones. It was just what they did. They had to, had to name the babies so they could keep track of their little ones and keep sane. Eeth still regretted not naming his little boy. His little biy had looked so much like his father, so strong and brave that none could compare with him. Eeth missed Tup. He missed his brave clone with every cell in his body and wanted to wail with sorrow every time he awoke and his lover was not there. He turned his head a little and trembled. Even though he was sleeping in the middle of his kittens, he still felt lonely. He missed the one that he loved.

Eeth sighed a little bit. Ataase curled into his swelling belly as she slept, her hands gravitating to the barely there swell. Eeth wondered if she had the Force. His own connection had suffered after he was cut off for so long. That made him want to whimper, but what could he do? There was no way to fix the past. If there was, and if Eeth ever found one, he would have used it so that Order 66 never happened and he never would have been imprisoned in t.hat kennel. Even after several washes, he still felt filthy. None of the adults talked about it. No matter how many scalding hot showers he took, Eeth knew he would still feel filthy. He might even feel filthy until his dying day.

Filthy. Soiled. Used. Broken. Unwanted. Impure.

That would be all that the Jedi saw. They would see his attachments to Jiro, to his kittens, to Agen, and to Adiir. Hell, they might even find his attachment to Tup and order the clone destroyed. Eeth knew he could never live with himself if that happened. The brown Zabrak sighed. His hand lifted up of it's own accord up to the base of his skull. He expected to feel nothing. After all, his hair had always been clipped close when he was in the kennels. It took him a few minutes before he realized that he was free from that horrible place. And wonder of wonders, his hand brushed something rough and stubby. _His head hair was growing back!_ As a Zabrak, he would have no other hair. Not even between his legs. Getting that little bit of hair back was almost like a validation of the fact that he, Eeth, was a person again. Eeth Koth the Jedi Master might have died, but Eeth Koth the man was still in there.

He allowed himself a happy smile. His hair was growing back. His kittens were in his arms and he was allowed to nurse them. Truly, this was good. Truly, he was free now. He was away from the kennel that had abused him and he was free to start his own life. A large part of him, though, still wanted Tup. He still wanted and needed his clone trooper. Eeth felt his smile dim. It was highly likely that the man he loved was gone. The Empire could have made him serve them. Or he could have been slain by a Jedi. As it was, Eeth knew not to get his hopes up.

It would only hurt him in the end.


	17. Interlude V: A New Hope

Five years.

It had been five years since Tup had last seen Eeth. They had just kissed each other briefly, not even gone to find supplies and press into each other. Tup didn't regret that he hadn't been with his lover. He regretted the fact that he hadn't told the Jedi Master just what he meant to him. They were like the sun and moon. Tup was big and bright and proud. Eeth was more quiet and reserved until you saw his smile. When he smiled, Eeth could light up an entire room. But those smiles were so rare. They only came when Eeth wanted them too and not before. Tup really did miss his lover, but he had almost forgotten what it was like to be with him. Tup knew it would be a longshot as to if he got to see the Jedi again. After all, Order 66 had taken so many Jedi from them. Tip had stopped hoping that his Jedi could have been one of the few survivors.

Bly sat beside him, looking at his hands. The other clone looked tired, but he looked happy, too. He was with Aayla Secura.  He had his Jedi with him. He had ran away from the Jedi and he had grabbed his Jedi before it had all came down. Tup hadn't been able to save Eeth. He hadn't even been able to grab his Jedi before he had gone mad. Tup should have been dead, he should have been destroyed. The Jedi had known that he was bad. Had they known that he was sleeping with one of their Jedi Masters? Had that been the reason that they had tried to put him down? Or had it just been his bad luck that he was born a slave? They wouldn't know. He was so tired, though. So tired and so defeated that he had lost his lover five years ago.

"You okay?" Bly looked a little concerned. The older clone touched Tup's face, his eyes concerned. Tup looked down. He didn't deserve this. All he wanted was Eeth, but he couldn't see the man. After all, Eeth had been taken away from him. Would Eeth even want him of he _did_ come back? Would he think that Tup had treated him like a good lay and not the partner that he was? "You've been down. What's wrong, Tup?"

Tup shook his head and sighed. He didn't want to talk about it, but what choice did he really have? He had lost Eeth. It was his fault. He had to talk about it. "I miss Eeth." He looked down at the floor and tried to ignore the fact that he was talking to a man who was married now. Would he have a child, soon? Eeth could have had his children, could have been round and full. Tup was like most clones. He loved seeing a pregnancy, was fascinated with how life was formed outside of a lab. If he had seen Eeth so round and full of his children, if he had known that he could have had a legacy to carry on his memory after he was gone, Eeth didn't know what he would have done. He would have been forever touching the Zabrak. "I lost him. And then I have to look at you and see you with Aayla."

"Ahh. That makes sense." Bly was a man of few words. He didn't like to talk. He would if he had too, but otherwise he kept quiet. It would be okay to ask him some questions, but he wouldn't expect that much of answer. The man smiled a little, though, and shrugged. "You'll find someone, you know. Keep your eyes open and you'll find someone. We all do. I thought I had lost Aayla, you know."

Tup rolled his eyes. "That was once and you were in battle. I lost Eeth five years ago and you know what the Empire does to captured Zabraks." Breeding was the tip of the iceberg. Getting claws docked would maim them for life.

"You will find him." Bly leaned over and touched his hands. The older clone looked so intent that Tup had to step back from him. "I don't think he's dead, Tup. You know the Empire would have crowed about it for _months_ if he was dead! They did that for Luminara, Plo Koon, and all the other dead Jedi. He's not dead. He's going to come back to you. How or why, I don't know. But you're gonna find him."

Tup nodded. He didn't know if he would or not, but he was willing to play along with it. He needed Eeth. He really needed Eeth. The problem was, he had no idea where that man was.


	18. Hope Always Wins

For the first time in his life, Eeth slept with his babies curled around him. He had never thought this day would come. Honestly, there had been some days that Eeth had feared he would die in that tiny cell. Either one of the Zyggerians would finally kill him or he would just collapse into a heap. He didn't know which would have been better. The youngest, tiny Padra, curled into his growing belly like a kitten. She and the toddlers would sometimes reach up to drink his milk if they saw fit. Eeith didn' mind. His chest was always tight if the didn't drink and the babies were growing. He couldn't wean Padra. He could always feed Adiir's kittens some if the milk got too much for him. A part of him wondered how Tup would have taken to his changing body. Most clones were fascinated by childbirth.

They had talked about having kittens once. Eeth had wanted kittens, a few little ones to curve into his belly and make him feel like he wouldn't be forgotten. Tup had wanted kittens, if only so he could see his mate's body swell and change. Clones seemed to like that. The first time Tup had taken him (and it had been months after Dooku stole Eeth's innocence), he had growled and snarled that he would knock the Zabrak up. Eeth didn't know where _that_ had came from, but he had enjoyed it. Probably enjoyed it a bit too much, given the trauma that he had been through. Kittens had been something they talked about later, after his body had recovered some. Tup wanted kittens after the war and Eeth agreed with him.

Well, he had nine of them, if you counted the one he'd lost to the slavers. Eeth still did. He dreamed of his little boy, with his red skin and his horns and his father's determination. His other kittens had tattoos, yes, but theirs were like his--meaningless. Eeth dreamed that his little boy didn't have the tattoos. All he had was his salmon red skin and his father's long, black hair. If there was anything Eeth craved more during his many pregnancies than honey and lemons, it was the scent of his mate. If you asked Eeth, Tup had a different scent than all of the other clones. Tup, alone, smelled like home. He smelled like freedom, the freedom that had came when he was no longer strung up and abused by a Sith Lord and his buddies. The freedom that came with being a Force user and a member of the most powerful political entity in the known galaxy.

It was a freedom that Eeth no longer had.

He winced slightly when one of the older kittens latched on to nurse. He couldn't tell them by their scents, yet, but he thought it was Sebrus. The five year old was old enough not to be nursing, but Eeth wondered if the older kittens nursed for comfort. They sometimes nursed from him in the middle of a bad dream, for example, and that seemed to be a comfort thing for the older Jedi. But then, he hadn't been abused like his kittens had. They had been hurt, tortured probably. Torn from his arms when they were just days old. After they had sucked all the first milk put of him. Without the first milk, Zabrak kittens often grew up thin and weak. Eeth curled around them a little more, determined to keep them safe.

"Eeth?" a small voice asked. Eeth looked up and made a tired sound. He didn't know what he wanted to do yet. Did he want to say that he was here? Or did he want the other male to just go away? He said nothing, though, when Jiro sat beside him. "How can you stand it?" The teenager was in tears, his face screwed up slightly. "How can you stand looking like this?!"

"I love them." Eeth nuzzled one of the kittens and watched as the little girl pressed deeper into his side. Jiro was little more than a kitten himself. It wasn't fair that someone so young had lost the best years of their life to a cold, cruel galaxy. He sighed a little and offered up a sad purr. He had learned to purr better after he'd been captured. There had been a time when purring was the only comfort one could give. When the rains were lashing down and the tin shelter wasn't enough to keep them dry. Or when it was cold and almost snowing and the barn they were herded into was no place to deliver a kitten. Eeth had hidden that one for several days and named her. Her name was Xobi and she was one of his favorites. "I'd do anything for them."

Jiro nodded and rubbed a hand over his flat belly. "I don't wanna have another kitten." His twin boys had almost killed him, after all. Jiro was too young for bearing. His body was too slender, his hips too narrow. But he'd managed, only to have the babies ripped away from him. "I was with the studs...the day we escaped..."

"I know." Eeth did know. Jiro didn't smell like milk anymore, so maybe it didn't take. Hopefully, it didn't take. Even after all he had been through, Eeth still believed in hope. It had been all he had left on Zyggeria. Why would he give that hope up now?

The light orange Zabrak pressed close. "I'm cold," he whispered. "Hold me?"

Eeth was only too happy to oblige, letting him make room in the midst of all the kittens.


	19. A Quiet Reflection, Interrupted

Tea warmed the body and soothed the soul. That was what Agen thought, anyways. He really just wanted to drink a cup of hot tea and meditate. The Force would have a plan for them, he knew it. It might not be the easiest plan in the world, but he would follow it and follow it well. He took a relaxing breath as he lowered the bound herbs into the steaming water. Jasmine and ginger. His favorite tea. A little unconventional, but he loved it all the same. The Zabrak Jedi smiled as he watched his tea steep. Maybe the kittens would stay asleep for another few hours and he could meditate. His hands dropped over his belly and he frowned. He was in milk, true, but as his pregnancy advanced, he would eventually go dry. It wasn't fair to ask Eeth to nurse all of the kittens and his body needed a rest, too.

Agen sat at the battered wooden table. He traced the carved letters with one hand, really just thinking about all that had happened to him. Agen would rather it had not happened. He loved his kittens, yes, but he also loved being free. He loved not being caged or being hosed down with a garden hose. He loved being able to slip under the water and feel the water pound away the filth on his body. The kittens... they made life hard. He didn't like that. Agen sighed and looked down, painfully aware of where this was leading him. He couldn't be a Jedi Knight anymore because of his babies. If they did manage to find Jedi, what would he _be_? Agen's whole life had been tied up in being a Jedi. First a youngling, then a padawan learner, then a Knight, and then a Master. What was he to do now? If he couldn't be a Jedi, Agen didn't know what he was.

"Mama?" Samot padded into the galley. His oldest son, the one named for the lightning storm he was born in, crawled into his lap. It was good that he was so small, otherwise the curve of Agen's belly wouldn't let the kitten sit like that. "You're all blue inside."

"I know, little one." Agen nuzzled his child. Internally, he cursed himself. _Of course_ his child would be able to use the Force. That was why the breeders never bred from... Agen caught himself and shook his head. Samot looked up at him with large, amber eyes. Agen managed a purr as he took the kitten's small hands in his own. "Do you see my cup?" Samot nodded. Agen gently used the Force and made the cup levitate off the table. Samot's jaw dropped. He grabbed for the cup. Agen made sure to keep it well out of his son's hands and growled softly at him. "That tea is very hot and I don't want you to burn yourself." Agen sighed. "I want you to focus on my spoon. See if you can make it rise up like I can." His son should be able too, given that he was the child of a very powerful Jedi.

Samot's eyes narrowed. He struggled with it and Agen's eyes widened as he heard some _very_ adult curses come from his kitten's mouth. The spoon, though, rose slowly off the table. It wobbled dangerously, almost fell out of the air, but Samot kept it up. He was struggling so hard that his little body was trembling. Agen watched his son carefully. What was Samot going to do with the spoon? His answer was found a moment later as it dropped from the air and landed on the table with a sharp clatter. Samot turned towards his mother, eyes alight with pride. Agen hugged his kitten.

"You did so good," Agen whispered. "Look at you! Look at you, learning to use the Force, that's so good!" Pride welled up in his chest as he looked at his son. This... this was just amazing. His son was going to be amazing, Agen just knew it. The Empire had tried to destroy the Jedi, but it might have just made them stronger. Zabraks were said to be highly Force sensitive as a species. He hugged his son close and quietly purred for him. Agen knew his son would be a very powerful Jedi Knight one day. His son just had to have the chance he deserved.

_It's a chance none of the other Force sensitive kittens will have, too. Maybe we can finally defeat that evil for good._

Samot shrugged and curled up as best he could with his mother. "That was nothing," the kitten bragged. Samot set his jaw and looked at his mother with the fierce determination only the very young could have. "It was a lot harder getting the Masters to feed Taka an extra bottle when he was hungry."

"How did you do that?"

"I told him with my mind." Samot looked at Agen like he was daft. "It was really hard and it made me feel cold afterwards, but Taka was real hungry. He was crying all day and they wouldn't feed us. It was my fault. I got caught stealing meat. It was cold out and I was hungry, so they decided to punish all of us by not feeding us for a few days. Taka... Taka was real hungry, so I found the stupid one and made him bring bottles for the babies."

Agen didn't know what to say. "Samot... the Force has a Dark Side and a Light Side. The Dark Side makes you feel cold inside and the Light makes you feel warm. I think you were using the Dark Side..." That was also very, very bad. Agen was going to be heavy with child soon. Eeth was in no shape to train a kitten and Jiro was still a kitten with kittens. Adiir didn't know what the Force was. They had no supplies, no way to get to Illium and make a lightsaber. "You don't use the Dark Side, okay? Not unless you have no other choice and it's use the Dark Side or die."

Samot curled up and raised his head some. "I tried using the stuff that made you feel warm. It didn't work as well, so I figured that I might as well be cold inside if it meant that the others got fed."

His oldest son was starting to fall to the Dark Side. Agen tried to contain the agonized wail and instead held his son tight. "Promise me," Agen whispered. "Promise me that you won't use it ever again."

"Okay." Samot didn't understand, but he curled close to his mother and purred. Inside, Agen had no idea what to do. The sooner they found the other Jedi, the better.


	20. Interlude VI: Helping Hands

Ahsoka had been the leader of their little clone colony for many years. Sure, she had Bly and Aayla's help, but other than that, it was on her to make sure that the crops were planted and everyone was well taken care of. It wasn't really that different from her days in the GAR. There just weren't any droids or beings trying to kill her. And that was good, very good. That meant that she could get men to help out two of her newest boys: Fives and Ponds. Both of them were listed as dead and she had no idea how they were still alive. Ponds had been killed by Aurra Sing and Fives shot by Fox. Ahsoka know knew that it had been a blaster malfunction and Fox had truly meant to stun his brother. It still didn't stop the abuse, though, and all of the times Fox was cursed and spat on by his brothers.

Fox sat beside her as she escorted Fives and Ponds into one of the larger bedrooms. Fives grabbed for his brother, not letting Ponds out of his sight. He gave Fox the evil eye and the clone shrank back a little bit. She needed to find some nice, out of the way place for him. Darth Maul liked him and Fox was friendly with the Zabrak. She just hadn't gotten around to transferring him yet. Though, if Fives stirred up trouble against her right hand... she didn't know what she would do. Fives was one of the reasons she was still alive today. He had taken several shots for her and had the scars to prove it. Fives sat down heavily on a chair, followed by Ponds. She wondered what had happened to both of them to get them as skinny as they both were.

_Nothing good, most likely._

"I'm not sharing a unit with that _traitor_!" Fives spat. He leaned forward, hazel eyes dark. Ponds was the worse looking of the two and Ahsoka wanted to help him out some. He needed medical care--not Fives snapping at a brother for something that truly was an accident. Ahsoka knew Fox very well. Like all clones, he would **never** kills his brother. Brothers were all clones had. They wouldn't have shot one, not even if there was a risk the brother would have been put down on Kamino. Fives gritted his teeth and eyed Fox some more. "I don't know why you tolerate him, to be honest. It's not like he's going to help you out and be a good boy. He'll shoot you in the back, Soka! You can't trust him!"

"I her right hand man."The ginger clone dared raise his face at the older ARC. Fox was just a CT-series clone. A normal, the Jedi had called them. Fives was an ARC-series. The difference between them was like night and day. Fives was much bigger than Fox was, even in his skinny state. He had actually been cared for before all of this and he had dwarfed the red haired clone. The only thing now was that Fives had lost a lot of weight. It was weight that he couldn't afford to lose, too. The last thing she needed was for him to get so skinny that she lost him. She would have to make sure that both of them were eating. "You can't kick me out of here, Fives. I've served her for just as long as you have and probably done a better job of it, too."

"No one is serving anybody," Ahsoka interjected. "The only exception for that is if you're sick, okay?"

Fives turned back at her, his eyes grim. "Soka. He's as bad as Slick was! And you remember what he did to the GAR, all of the brothers he got killed? We can't afford to let a traitor like him loose!" He shuddered some and doubled over, like he was still in pain from being shot so long ago. "We...we just can't, okay? I can't be around him, I can't see his face, I don't wanna know he still breathes air!"

"I'll let you know when I breathe helium," Fox jabbed. They all ignored him.

Ahsoka tried to soothe the fight. "You need to calm down, okay?" she asked. "No one is getting kicked out. No one is going to stop breathing air. I love all of you and I want you to be safe. But Fox lives here too, okay? He's really a big help. I wouldn't have been able to find you two without his help with the maps." Fox had a gift for messing with maps and such. To him, it was fun. Ahsoka just liked helping him out at times. Honestly, he was so much better at it than she was that it wasn't even funny.

Ponds leaned forward and took Fox's hand. "Thank you," he softly said. "Thank you for helping us out."

Fox pulled his brother into a hug and rubbed his back. "I would do anything for my brothers. _Anything_."


	21. Lessons in the Force

His oldest son had touched the Dark Side of the Force. Agen couldn't let that happen again. He had seen too much of what the Sith could do and had experienced it. The little one swelling his belly and the way his chest was full of milk would have only happened if the Dark Side had risen up. And it had. It had reared it's ugly head like a clawfish did. And the poor Jedi had ambled right into it like a slow bantha. How could they have not seen the destruction the clone army would have caused? Weren't there seers in the Jedi Order? Didn't they feel for certain things in the Force? But, then, how did they miss the epic wave that would have hit them? Was there anything the Jedi could have done? Agen didn't know if there was or not.

Samot was trying to meditate with mixed success. He wanted to fall back on the Dark Side because it was easier to use. Sadly, his mother knew all about the Dark Side and refused to let him mess with it. It would be the last thing he _ever_ did, if he tried it. Agen knew what the Dark felt like. He knew what it was like to be submerged in it's toxic, icy embrace. He had been young once, like Samot, and had been caught at the wrong place and the wrong time. Thankfully, he escaped before he could be made a brood mother, though the experience always stuck with him. There were thousands of Zabraks who never got the chance to escape. Agen sighed some as he thought and started breathing.

"Focus on your breathing," he instructed. "In and out. In and out. Now we need to stand and stretch." He demonstrated the movements for Samot, slowly moving and stretching out his sore muscles. He was very stiff from his years of living in a cage, but they could work the kinks out of his muscles. Sedor, Manou, Brata, and Hesti had joined them. The females were having an easier time with the stretching than the males were. Their auras read calm and peaceful. Out of all of them, though, only Samot and Hesti had the Force. The rest just wanted to see what was going on. Agen worked with the kittens for a few minutes and finally got them to sit down. Hesti looked very interested in this and Agen could see that she would be a powerful Force user one day.

"You need to sit up better." Agen gently corrected Sedor and moved to straighten Manou's legs. The kitten yelped some, but he did what he needed to do. "Now we're going to close our eyes." He waited for them to do that before slipping his eyes closed himself. "We're only going to work on a little bit of the Code right now. Just the first part. But after a little bit, you'll have all of it." He could feel the kittens around him. They wanted to be here. " _There is no emotion, there is only peace_. That means, little ones, that we as Jedi are to act as level headed individuals. We are not to be wild and reckless. No, we are to be kind and calm and to withhold judgement until we know all the facts. Now, repeat after me, _there is no emotion, there is only peace_."

"There is no emotion, there is only peace." Sedor fidgeted a little in his seat. Hesti and Samot, though, were totally calm and at peace. Agen allowed himself a small smile.

"There is no emotion, there is only peace." He looked over at the younglings, smiling a little bit. "This is a mantra. It will serve to focus your minds. And now, we will start to visualize a safe place. There is no emotion, there is only peace."

"There is no emotion, there is only peace." After that, Sedor got up and walked away. He didn't care from what Agen could tell, but Agen would let it go. Sedor did not have the Force. Hesti and Samot did. He was most worried about Samot, though, thanks to the fact that Samot had already touched the Force. He'd touched the Dark Side, though, and that was the worst thing. His son could not become enamored in the Dark Side. Agen had already been burned by that once. He closed his eyes some and entered his own safe place. It was a simple garden, a hidden corner of the Temple that wasn't there anymore. The slavers had shown Agen the images of the ruined Temple to taunt him.

His home was gone. It would never be coming back, at least not in his lifetime.

"Find a place in your mind that feels safe to you," Agen quietly told them. "A garden, maybe. Something green with many trees. When you find it, explore for a few minutes and then we will come back." Privately, he wondered if the kittens could find a safe place. After all, they had been born and raised slaves. They would only know the horrors of slavery. Agen watched them some and wondered a little bit about Tan. His padawan was dead now, he must have been dead for several years now. The thing was, Agen didn't know if he could trust a human male again. It had been the clones that captured them. Even Eeth's clone, Tup, would be looked upon with extreme suspicion.

He waited for the kittens to find their place and explore for a few minutes. Samot, he noticed, was having the hardest time. Agen knelt beside his son as best he could and directed him some. A part of him wondered bitterly if this was the new Jedi Order. The child inside of him kicked and Agen grimaced. He could bear this one by himself. He'd done it so many times before. This would be his last child, though. He would never have any more. Agen settled beside Samot and Hesti after the others had done. They left him alone, too. Agen was very glad for the peace, but he had a job to do.

"Are you ready?" he softly asked. Samot nodded. Hesti did after a few minutes. Agen took their hands and allowed the kittens to bond with him. Hesti's presence in the Force was bright and hopeful, full of wonder at the universe where she lived. Samot, though, was darker. He was more...confused. And that was not good. Agen tried to chase away the dark in his son, but it refused to go. Samot looked up at him...and his eyes were rimmed with a sickly yellow color. Agen needed the Jedi library. He knew next to nothing about the Dark Side, only that it was very bad. He gritted his teeth some and looked at the kitten. Samot looked right back and there was confusion in his eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Samot softly asked.

Agen turned away, trying to keep himself from betraying his true feelings. "No," he lied. "Nothing is wrong. Now run along and help Eeth and Adiir, please."


	22. The Darkness Inside of You

Eeth was more than ready for this child to come. The heavy belly wouldn't look nearly as out of place on him as it did the others, but he was still ready for the kid to come. It would pop out of him any day now as far as he cared. Why the breeders thought it was a good idea to get him with kitten only a month or so after he'd given birth was beyond him. It wasn't like Eeth could fight them, though. He had learned the hard way that fighting only brought you more pain. So he had been obedient and bided his time. And now... now he was free. Well, as free as one could be with a a pack of kittens curled around him. Kestor had horrible night terrors and the others weren't much better. Little Desraa wanted feeding almost around the clock.

There turned out to be a reason why most Zabraks wrapped their bodies around their little ones at night. It allowed the kittens to nurse as they pleased and for the mother to sleep. Eeth needed his sleep. He whined softly, missing his tiny Regar. His son would be half grown now, more man than the little boy he should have been. Tup would never know his son. Just like Eeth would never know him, either. He sighed a little bit, pressed close to his pack of children. The little ones loved being close to him at night. His youngest child needed the milk and the others needed his comfort. Eeth hadn't been able to be with his kittens for so long, almost ten years. He shuddered to think of all the slaves who died within those four walls. All of the kittens that were sent to the meat ship and all of the mothers who died in childbirth.

They all deserved better. Maybe Eeth would fix that.

He thought of the stud he freed from the slave pens. He had seen the fear in that creature's eyes and understood how terrified he was. The stud had never known freedom. But he had wanted to fight, wanted to fight for the little one in his belly. Eeth didn't know if that stud had sired a few of his own children or not. After a few years, all of the studs blended together. He did remember one of them. That red one had sang in the Force, his aura a mixture of fire and ice. Eeth wanted to help him now. He could. The collar was off and he could train the stud and make him strong. Perhaps, if he still wasn't bonded to Tup, they would have bonded and he would have settled down with a mate. Miracles did happen, after all.

"Amma?" Taka crawled in his lap, her little eyes wide with fear. Eeth grunted some as he struggled to get up. He was very tired as it was, but he could do this. He was the little girl's mother. "Amma? Samot scared me. He made me feel cold inside."

Eeth groaned some and dropped his head back. _Of course_ , he would have kittens that could use the Force. That was just the way the universe worked. The universe didn't want to waste what good blood it had and instead forced the Jedi to do what they had needed to do all along: procreate. It started with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It would probably end with the death of the Jedi Order. Eeth grimaced some, wondering what he was thinking. He could never be a Jedi again, not in the true sense of the word. He was no longer pure and he had brought several kittens into this world. He had fallen in love with a clone trooper. There had been so many things he had done with Count Dooku, just so that the pain would stop. He had killed an unborn child rather than suffer the shame and ridicule of being cast out of the Order.

And yet...there he was. He was holding Taka in his arms. He could feel the way the Force sang around her, like a tiny maelstrom that had the potential to turn into a raging hurricane.

"What did he do, little one?" Eeth held his daughter close to him, marveling at her features. They had to know there was human blood in his veins. His poor Regar had been born three quarters human. Had they known? Was that why they had destroyed his tiny child? Regar had done no wrong. He just had the misfortune to be born in a slaver's den, rather than in the Jedi Order. The tan Zabrak shivered some, thinking of all the horrible things the older male could have done. Yet... Samot's scent didn't cling to her and she looked okay, just a little stunned.

"He did what Agen said an' he used the Force." Taka held out her little hand and levitated one of the pillows. Eeth swallowed the groan. "When I use the Force, it doesn't make me hurt inside. But when he uses the Force..." Taka shivered some, her wide eyes so serious. "It scares me an' it makes me hurt. Make him stop, Amma!"

Eeth dropped his head back. Agen was overworked as it was. How could he hope to control such a child? "I don't know if I can, little one. The people that used to own us cut me off from the Force. I can't use it as well as I used too." He didn't tell his daughter that he used to be a Jedi Master. Taka would never understand. "But there's Darkness inside all of us, little one. Just because you have it doesn't mean you should use it. Someone that I knew and trusted used the Darkness inside of him and a lot of people died. I was captured that night."

_But if I hadn't been captured, you and your siblings wouldn't be here._

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." Taka made a soft purring sound and kissed her mother on the cheek. Eeth settled back some, wondering what he was going to do. Samot had a problem and Agen wasn't strong enough to fight it. There was no telling what that child would do if he was pushed to it. Eeth knew what Anakin Skywalker had done. He knew just how powerful the Dark Side could be. And that was why he held his children very tightly that night. For all his moaning about what had happened, he loved them. He loved all of his children and he never wanted to lose them. Eeth growled softly.

If Samot thought he could turn into another Darth Vader, he had another thing coming.


	23. Interlude VII: From Ahsoka's Point of View

Wolffe was more than enough for her. It wasn't his fault, it was just his nature to be such a protective mate, but it did get on her last nerves at times. It very much so did when Ahsoka was pregnant with their child. She had seen him watch her before, usually when he wanted her, but it was nothing like it was now. His fierce gaze was latched upon her body and it just did not want to let go. Of course, having a child with him would change him. Clones had so few good things in life. They wanted to make sure that they got to keep what few good things were theirs. So Ahsoka put up with the constant nursemaiding and the fact that he didn't let her go to far out of his sight. He knew just how much trouble the former General could get into and he wasn't risking it.

Ahsoka rested back on their bed. Or, more specifically, her body pillow. Wolffe didn't mind it if she draped herself over him. Especially now that he could run his hands over her belly and marvel at it. She still wasn't showing, not that much, but the child was there. It glowed in the Force as much as it could. She knew it would be powerful when it was grown. So strong for such a little speck of life. Ahsoka didn't know what she would do without Wolffe, but she knew it wouldn't be nearly this good. The clone hummed a little bit as they snuggled, just wanting to keep close to her. Not that she blamed him. Togruta were much smaller than human males and he was going to worry about his smaller mate.

"Are you okay?" Wolffe asked. The clone looked at her with something akin to wonder as he settled down with her. Like he just wanted to see. Ajsoka wasn't in the mood tonight, but that was okay, actually. The emotional bonds had come first. The physical had come much later and together, they sang in the Force. A part of Ahsoka wished she could have had this with Rex, but the 501st was still with Lord Vader. She didn't know if she would ever get them free.

"A little tired, but I'm fine." She twisted her head around and pecked his cheek. The muscular clone shifted back a little bit and wrapped his hands around her middle. It had taken both of them a long time to admit what they had. Wolffe didn't know how to deal with his emotions. Neither did Ahsoka. It had just taken them such a long time to warm up to each other that she was stunned they were together at all. For all Ahsoka knew, they should still be acting awkward with each other and not admitting what they had. She wasn't sure if it was quite a Force bond, but it was surely close and it grounded her every day. "What about you? I heard that you and Crys ran into some trouble around Coruscant."

Wolffe shrugged someone. "I'm fine. We got three good men out of it, though. Names are Scythe, Tiger, and Dusty. They'll need to go through medical before we put them in with the rest though." He paused some. "Tup worries me. He's still pining for that Jedi of his, ever mind the fact that we all know Eeth is long dead. I've tried to get him to look at another Zabrak, but he refuses. He nursemaids the kittens, if you can believe that!"

Ahsoka nodded. "I think they were mates."

"And I don't wanna think about what a broken bond could do to his mind," Wolffe murmured. He cupped one of her lekku with his rough hands and sighed some. "I'm not going on any more missions. Not until you have the baby, Soka. I don't wanna lose you and I sure as hell don't wanna be lost." Wolffe lapsed back into silence and looked at the blankets some. "I feel for Tup, I really do. It's like Eeth was his one and only."

"Soulmates." Ahsoka understood a little of it. She and Wolffe were not soulmates. They were mates, but she knew they would both survive a broken bond relatively intact. They might be wrecked emotionally, but it would leave their minds alone. "If it was a soul bond, then there is nothing we can do. Either he gets better or he doesn't, Wolffe. I think he's still grieving, to tell you the truth."

"He's been grieving for twelve years," Wolffe argued. "That's not a life, Ahsoka. It's... I don't know what it is, but it's not a life. Tup has to let him go, to live. That's what Eeth would want, I know it is." He fell silent some and then looked up at her with worried hazel eyes. "That... that won't happen with us, will it? If our bond breaks, will that happen to you or me?" He did look very worried and Ahsoka wasn't sure how to explain this to him.

"We don't have a soul bond," she finally said. She hoped that he wasn't upset about this. It was just the way things were. They just did not have that type of bond. Their bond was different. Special, but not the type of bond. I think... I think that soul bonds are really, really rare."

Wolffe growled some and pulled her close to him. "I'm so glad to hear that. The last thing I want is you being hurt because of something stupid I did." He sighed some and curled up with her. "Stay with me? I promise not to squeeze you too much."

Ahsoka kissed his head as she pressed into him. "Always, my love. _Always_."


	24. A New Life

Agen grunted some as he labored to bring his last kitten into the world. He would never be doing this again. Not ever again. Even though he was allowed painkillers for this birth, it was still beyond painful and the last thing that he wanted to deal with in this minute. It just... _hurt_. Not with the brilliant agony that goving birth without medication hurt, but a dull throb. Zabrak kittens tended to be more sensitive to certain chemicals than human children did, after all. There was only so much he could be given before it started to endanger his child. For all Agen knew, the others could have located a lost tribe of Jedi while he was struggling to bring this newborn into the world. He hadn't been as fertile as the others, but he more than made up for it in the brilliant reds and blues and silvers he threw.

Adiir sat with him as he struggled and made sure that the kitten was endangered. Agen would never forgive himself if something happened to his child and he couldn't stop it. Agen arched his back up and gasped, eyes almost wild with the pain of it. It just _hurt_. Like his insides were all coming out between his legs. He didn't want to think of the agony this would have been if he hadn't had the drugs. This kitten had to be a large one. He'd been better fed, of course, and he hadn't been worked to the bone. His body could spare the energy to give his child a bigger frame. Agen wailed some and twisted in the bed, clawing at his belly. It felt like it was just about to crown, but he couldn't be quite certain.

"Almost there," Adiir cooed. He stroked a cool hand across the tan Zabrak's brow and purred softly. Agen whimpered loudly, but there was nothing he could do. His breasts ached with milk as it was. They were tender and swollen, perfect for feeding a kitten. And after this one was weaned, he would never be in milk ever again. Agen had more than enough kittens, thank you. "You're doing so well." The golden Zabrak hummed some and drew a golden hand across his brow. "Just a little bit more and all the pain will be over. Wouldn't that be lovely?"

" _Hurts_!" Agen wailed as the child crowned with a sickening _pop_. Oh Force. What he wouldn't give for a modern medical bay and droids that could cut the child out of him right about now. Agen wasn't made for having kittens. His hips were too narrow, his body to slim. He wasn't as small as Jiro was, but he still wasn't built to deliver so many kittens without help. His body was scarred on the inside and that just made things worse. Agen let out a wail of pain as he arched, clawing at the rails of the bed. The kitten started screaming as soon as it was separated from him and Adiir had it had his breast before he could reach for his kitten. Agen sagged back some, nuzzling and licking the bloody newborn. He was beyond exhausted, but his kitten needed to be cared for.

"It's a boy." Adiir looked at him some. That meant that there wasn't as much human in this kitten as there were the other ones. The Zabraks in the Jedi Order tended to be at least a quarter human, if not more. Agen was no exception to the rule. The golden Zabrak cleaned a little of his skin off and sighed some. He swallowed. "I think that his skin will be silver."

Agen nodded some. "He's born free, though. That's all that counts. He has a chance now." Agen placed the kitten so he could nurse and kissed his head. The child needed to stay close to his mother for at least a week. Agen groaned in pain as he passed the afterbirth. It honestly looked disgusting and it was dropped down the incinerator shaft before Agen could say a word. Adiir started to clean his friend and hummed some. The tan Zabrak just let him do it. He liked the pampering as it was and he figured that he deserved this. His newborn was sucking at his breast rapidly now, like it had to suck the milk or it would die. Agen wanted to tell his son that it was alright, he wouldn't starve here. There was more than enough milk.

"You, Eeth, and Jiro were born free. Look where you ended up." Adiir looked at the kitten somewhat wistfully as he finished up. "He's a Zabrak, Agen. A silver Zabrak. He's going to have to fight all of his life to be looked at as something other than a breeding bitch or an exotic slave. I'm sorry, but that's just the facts of it. The cards are stacked against all of us.

"I know." Agen looked down. "His name is Taka."

"You gave him a brave name for a tiny child." Adiir shook his head some and walked away. "You're crazy, you know that. You Jedi types. Jiro and Eeth are looking for some Jedi enclave on Jedha or something like that. Me? I just want to get to Shili's Moon and try to live my life. Space magic just brings misery."

Agen sighed some and cradled his son. "Adiir. I was taken from my parents when I was very young. Eeth, Jiro, and I... we don't know our families. We have no bloodlines. They can't be sure that we aren't kin to the studs. Imagine how that feels and how... and how that just makes it so much worse. I don't even want to imagine it if I _was_ kin to any of the studs."

Adiir growled a little as he left. "Should have thought of that before you ignored the breeding pens, huh? _Jedi_." He stormed off and left an exhausted Agen to his business. He glanced down at the silvery kitten. A little nap couldn't hurt? Right?


	25. Adiir's Pain

Adiir needed to hide. There. It was out. He'd been forced to share a narrow cell with those Jedi and had been bred beside them. For a time, they had been closed. Bonded by trauma. They had been forced to watch as their bodies swelled and kittens came, but they had been yanked away. Taken after the kittens had gotten first milk. He quietly curled up in one of the beds. He couldn't make milk. He'd been owned before this and his Master had gauged his nipples, not knowing that this would ruin his body. His first kitten had starved because he wasn't able to care for it. And after that... he'd been tossed away. Taken from his life on Coruscant and exiled to Zyggeria for a mistake his Master had made.

It _hurt_. All these years later, it still _hurt_. Had he loved his old Master? Had he thought that his Master had loved him? Now that he had been tossed aside and left to rot here, he figured that his Master couldn't care less about him. He had been bred by his Master and tossed aside when he couldn't care for the resulting kitten. Adiir didn't have all of his kittens and the damned Jedi had all of theirs. He wanted to howl and scream with how unfair that was. With how the fates had decided that they hated him. When his first child died and his Master got rid of him. He had no way of controlling it. Adiir whined softly and tried to choke back the tears. He didn't have all of his children. They had been sold away and he would never get to see them again.

If there was an afterlife, maybe he would get to see them again. He just hoped that there was a way he could see all of his kittens again.

The Jedi had no idea. They didn't know what it was like. They didn't know what it was like to be born a slave. They didn't know what it was like to be bred when you were only fifteen and to deliver a kitten ten months later. Only for that kitten to starve at your breast because they didn't know how to feed it. Jiro knew a little bit of what would happen to a young Zabrak, but Adiir was so much older than he was. As much as he loved the young Jedi, it wouldn't be right. Jiro wasn't built for bearing. He was too small, too young. Adiir couldn't bring himself to touch the Jedi when he knew he would be hurting him just like the others had hurt him. He couldn't touch Jiro. Not without causing him more pain. The Jedi would never know what that pain felt like.

Feet padded outside of the door and someone let himself in. From the scent of it, it was Jiro. Adiir lifted his head. The last thing he wanted to do was get in a fight with the Jedi and he had half a mind to tell Jiro just to frip off. As much as it hurt his heart to do so. He needed to just get _rid_ of him. Get _rid_ of the pain in his heart so he would never have to feel it ever again. Somehow numb himself so he would never feel pain, ever again. Jiro said nothing, though, and just pressed his body into Adiir's. Adiir clutched him close. He whimpered softly, just wanting to be close to the younger Jedi. How old was he? Not even twenty? A Zabrak wasn't considered an adult until he reached seventy human years. Adiir knew he was young, _very_ young.

Too young to be touched by someone broken like him.

"I'm sorry." Jiro nuzzled him softly and wrapped arms around him. Adiir whimpered softly. He just wanted to be close to the other one, but he knew that it wasn't right. He couldn't touch Jiro without it being nasty. Without him being just as bad as the bastards that they had escaped. So who was he to think that he could love a Jedi who would never love him? The young Jedi sighed some as they cuddled and Adiir could feel the hot tears burning into his chest. "I'm so sorry." Jiro rasped some as he spoke and he just felt the pain radiating from the young Jedi. It hurt him, too. He'd been hurt far too many times by far too many beings. Jiro nuzzled him softly. "I wish..."

"What do you wish?" Adiir snapped. The hurt that flashed over the young Jedi's face made him wish that he'd never spoken, though.  The golden Zabrak sighed some as he pulled the Jedi close and attempted a ragged purr. "Sorry about that, little one. It's just... hard."

Jiro nodded. "My first kitten was still born. It hurts me when I look at the others and I think that my son should still be alive." He gave a bit of a bitter laugh. "It's very strange, you know. As a Jedi I was taught never to bond with others. But when I bonded with you and the others... it made it livable. I don't think I could have survived that place without you." He nuzzled the other one softly. "What upset you?"

"I lost my first kitten, too." Adiir turned his head away. "Don't wanna talk about it." And that was very true. The entire subject still hurt him all these years later. He didn't think he could ever talk about it without being in pain. He just pressed close to the Jedi and just swallowed. For the minute, he could allow himself to believe that he was loved and that better things could happen to him. Just for a few minutes. He could do that. He could hold Jiro close and quietly promise himself that it was going to be alright.

Jiro, for his part, held Adiir close and gave a ragged purr. The golden Zabrak closed his eyes. This was as good as it was going to get for him and he just needed to get used to it. It wasn't like Jiro would want him anyways.


	26. Interlude VIII: The Settlement

The galaxy would never be the same. That former Jedi Master Tofei could agree on. He didn't think they could recover and fight off the Empire. After all, he had lost his padawan during Operation Knightfall and the broken bond still ached today. The older Mirialan sighed as he worked. Tofei and a few other survivors, most young humans and a few Twi'leks, had had the luck to be in the Far Rim when the Order fell. They had almost come back to the Temple, too. And they would have... if Master Kenobi hadn't killed those Shadow Troopers and cut off the beacon. The Mirialan's lip curled as he knelt to fix the harvester. He never had liked the clones and had sided with those who wanted to kill the foul creatures rather than use them to do the Jedi's dirty work.

Tofei _growled_ some as he worked. _I bet those idiots wish they had listened to me now! We should have killed all of them and exiled Sifo-Dyas to Brandomeer! Or, wait, no. Even the **Agri-Corps** would be better than he deserves_!

His green knuckles tightened around the spanner wrench. It was bad enough that they had lost the entire Council to the Empire. They had also lost the holocrons and half the so-called elites now had protosabers as _fashion accessories_. Tofei had been lucky enough to escape with his hood and his lightsaber. He now had to deal with seeing the scared artifacts paraded around like they were toys. Tofei wondered just how many of those clones had been destroyed by the things they stole. The Jedi Order had been in the habit of collecting things like, say, gemstones that stole your soul. Or a box that opened a portal to the Netherworld of the Force if you completed the puzzle. And all of the singing stones and Force trees that cropped up in the galaxy.

So, yes, he hoped that they were killed. Still, his heart burned as he worked. He'd tried to padlock all memories of his clone commander, Vulcan, with what he knew he should have been feeling. He had always thought that the clones were a bad idea, but he'd been ignored. Having a free army wasn't a good idea. Tofei had been forced to kill Vulcan and his men during a deadly battle on some backwaters planet. That had been the man he'd just had, ah, _adult relations_ , with a few hours before. He should have never tempted fate. Tofei knew that the Dark Side was strong, but he'd doubted it. How could a bond that shone in the Force be so dark and deadly? Tofei now understood why the Jedi did not love.

The fact was, love hurt too much when it went bad. And it always did.

Aayla Secura walked over the hill, holding a basket of tools. Tofei didn't look up. He did not want to see her small harem of clones and wonder why she had been able to break the chips when he could not. The Rutian quietly handed him a different spanner wrench. Tofei took it and was delighted to see that it was actually the right one. He ignored Bly. He ignored the others. He did not want to see them, did not want to be reminded of Vulcan, and if he never saw a clone trooper again, it would be too soon. He growled low as he worked. Aayla didn't say anything as she helped, just trying to help him out. Tofei was willing to let her help him out, but if Bly tried it, he would snap the man's neck.

"You're doing it wrong," Bly pointed out. He crouched beside Tofei and brushed aside some of the dirt. Tofei glared at him, wanting to kill the man for daring to get close. How _dare_ he survive when Vulcan didn't get that chance! The clone sighed some and quietly looked at the parts. "It's not the nuts and bolts that are failing. It's the support system. The entire thing needs to be replaced. I have no idea where you bought this thing, but you need to get your money back!"

"Get out of my sight," Tofei hissed. He drew up some, glaring at the clone. For a second, he thought he saw Vulcan and his heart broke all over again. "Go! Go away! I never want to see you or your kind ever again! _Go away_!"

Bly held up his hands and jerked back. "Look. I don't know what's wrong with you--"

"I killed my lover because he tried to kill _me_ ," Tofei hissed. He was starting to feel the Dark Side roar within him, along with a tidal wave of anger, and he was having a hard time controlling it. "You're a defect. And you survived. Vulcan was perfect and I had to kill him! Right after he killed my padawan! So no, I don't ever want to see you again and if I could, I'd blast you to hell!"

"Excuse you!" Bly snarled right back. "I didn't see you going off at Darth Vader after he tried to kill your brother! Where were you, crying your eyes out on some ship? Now you know how us clones feel _every time_ one of our brothers or friends or lovers was killed by your harebrained plans!" The clone balled up his fists. Tofei wished that he had his lightsaber with him. Aayla looked like she was about to bolt. And it was her fault for bringing those damned clones to this sanctuary! Bly walked forwards and jammed his finger into Tofei's face. "You got away with killing our brothers. Running us at the enemy until we wore them down and letting the long necks destroy any brothers of ours who took bad injuries! I don't blame this Vulcan for following Order 66!"

"We need to go." Aayla grabbed Bly's shirt and started trying to pull him back. For a few seconds, Bly looked like he was trying to fight her, but he backed off and stormed away. Aayla might have given him an apologetic look, but Tofei simply ignored him and glared at the harvester. Bly was probably right. This thing was probably junk and they were better off searching for scrap junk.

There was a familiar tugging on his bond, like Vulcan was still alive and needing him, but Tofei closed it off as he started to work. There was no point in chasing after the dead. No matter how alive they felt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So is Vulcan alive or is this a trap? 
> 
> You guys decide! 
> 
> Comment with your decisions and the one with the highest count gets written into the story!


	27. Finding Survivors

Eeth curled up on the couch. He was exhausted. Having a newborn around really made things fun, especially when you had other kittens to feed. He needed to wean Ataase and her sister soon,if he wanted to have enough food for his youngest. He was soon to be due with his last kitten. Even if he saw Tup again, he wasn't going to have kittens anymore. He would sleep with Tup, yes, but he was going to get his tubes tied or something like that. He sighed softly, palming over his belly. He waddled now. That made getting around in this cramped ship hard at best. He turned his head some, not wanting to acknowledge that fact that he would never get to be a Jedi again. He might not have Fallen to the Dark Side, but he was very attached to his children.

Adiir knocked on the cabin door before entering the ship. The Zabrak cleared his throat as he sat down. "We found a beacon," he finally said. "Agen got it decoded. There are Jedi out there and we have the coordinates to get there. It's not that far, actually. And believe you me, you guys must like mind games because I've never seen such a jumbled up code!"

"If it's the one I'm thinking of, it's a very obscure Mando'a dialect upside down and backwards," Eeth explained. He purred some when his daughter stirred and kissed her head. She had inherited his head of thick, dark hair. He needed to cut it soon, but Eeth didn't know how. All he knew how to do was just catch his up in a series of braids. He hadn't been allowed to do that in the pens. His hair had been shaved off before that. The brown Zabrak growled softly as he thought of losing his hair. That hair was his pride and job, even if he was a Jedi. Adiir gave him a confused look. Eeth shook his head. "It's not you. It's just..." He ran a hand over his hair and sighed softly. "I missed not having hair."

"I'm not used to you having it," Adiir muttered. He got up and shrugged. "Agen thought that you might want to come to the bridge with him. Why, I don't know, but he said that you might want to see this. Something about the Jedi liking him better than you?" Eeth only shook his head as he got up. The last thing he needed was to explain Jedi politics to an outsider. Adiir had been born a slave. There was no way he would ever understand the Jedi Order. Eeth might have tried to explain it to him, and he had, but there was only so much an outsider could understand. That much, Eeth understood. He just sighed and waddled up to the bridge. He glanced down at his belly and sighed. He was going to be so ready to get this little one _out_ of him, rather than inside him all the time.

Agen was settled in the Captain's chair, nursing his kitten. "Hey." He didn't turn around, but the Force brushed over his soul. Eeth smiled softly. He had missed doing that. Agen pulled something up and Eeth watched as a message blossomed overhead. "So we got this. It's from Tyre, which is out in the middle of nowhere, but we're within a few days of that. We won't even have to stop for supplies. So do we go there or not?"

"We go." Eeth grinned some. He wanted to see another Jedi. Had wanted to see another Jedi for so long that it almost hurt. The Zabrak clapped his hands together. His kittens would grow up in some semblance of the Jedi Order. They would be raised right and taught to stay strong where their fathers had failed. The tan Zabrak grinned softly. "Are you sure it's a few days? The other beacon is for a place within a few hours of here. I'd like to try that out first. I don't want to take us that far off course for nothing that might not even exist." Then again, no one else knew that code. Tup was the only one to have known it. Tup and Bly, but both of them were listed as MIA by the Empire. They must have stayed with the Jedi and sent out a beacon for all survivors.

A horrible thought struck the Jedi. What if there were no other survivors? What if he was going headlong into a trap? What if a Sith had ripped into the minds of his mate and his friend? What if he was getting all of them into a trap? He shook his head some, trying to keep calm. The Empire did not care about him enough to get him killed that way. Eeth watched as Agen keyed in the coordinates for the other beacon. He just needed to get them safe. There might not be a place where the Empire wouldn't be able to grab them, but they could at least have a fighting chance. He leaned back some and rubbed his belly. He was sore all the time now, but there weren't any contractions. That was good, at least.

Hyperspace rippled around them. He liked watching it, but there was such a thing as hyperspace madness. You couldn't watch it for too long or you would go mad. Eeth had never seen it happen, but he had heard the story. There was a clone who had gone mad that way. Of course, the clone must have been destroyed. All defective clones were destroyed and a mad clone was seen as defective. Eeth sighed some and turned away. It was very hard, like swimming through syrup, but he could still do it. Jedi were strong that way. They weren't all that far away from the other planet, but he was still getting a bad feeling about this one. They should have gone to Tyre, but it was too late to go back now. Once you picked a course, you stayed that way, unless you wanted to drop out of hyperspace in the middle of a star.

They dropped out of hyperspace after a few hours. Eeth was pacing the bridge now. He wasn't sure what planet this was, but he could feel a sense of hostility wash over him. The Zabrak looked up again. He didn't like this place, but they had to touch down. Maybe they needed to get fuel or maybe they needed to change the water tanks. Eeth sighed softly. He should have gone with Agen's ideas, but it was too late now. He knew they would be safe on Tyre. So why had they gone here, except because he had had this really hairbrained idea?

Eeth was getting a bad feeling about this, but he was too scared to say it. Not after he had insisted they go to this planet.


	28. Touchdown

Agen wanted to see other Jedi. He knew there had to be Jedi out there who hadn't been corrupted by the fall of the Jedi Order. There just _had_ to be. The law of averages stated as much and Agen was very much a follower of the law. He'd never been a very wild one. Even when he was a Jedi Knight or a padawan. He had always wanted to follow the rules and do what he was supposed to do. Life just went better that way. When he made Council, he'd been stunned by that. Maybe there really was something about following rules that got you places. And then... then he was captured by the Empire and he was forced to break his code. There had been a stud he thought was pretty, too. Agen couldn't allow himself to think that for very long, though.

He paced the bridge of his ship. Well, it really wasn't his ship. It was just the ship that they had stolen from the Empire. Maybe they could find a better ship or they could go to Tyre. He had heard that there was a colony there. Maybe he would like that better than he liked the place they were going now. He looked up the planet. It was called Arlen and the major export was silver. Not all that important in the grand scheme of things. There were no coaxium reserves. Nothing that had to do with transperisteel. No iron, no copper. Just silver. And there was a large continent that wasn't really inhabited. It was said that a small colony was there. Well, Agen guessed that they were about to find out.

Jiro watched the atmosphere as they started going down. The ship was a well insulated one. It didn't rock you around and throw you places. It was just a small ship that did it's job well. The young orange Zabrak sighed softly. His kittens were curled around he and he was also cuddled up with Adiir. Agen decided to leave him alone. He wasn't going to be a Jedi. He was too far gone for that but Agen hoped that he could still be a Jedi. His own kittens played and wrestled on the floor beside him. Agen couldn't really bring himself to deal with them. Those kittens had been forced on him. He'd had no say in their creation, yet his milk had been ripped away from him along with the children. Agen didn't know what to do. A part of him wanted to be a Jedi, but the rest of him still wanted his children.

"We're finally going home," Jiro whispered. He hugged the other Zabrak and gave him a small smile. "Maybe we'll see Master Yoda! Or my old Master! I could actually finish my training and you could get your degree and we... we could do whatever we wanted too!"

Adiir chuckled softly and ruffled his horns. "I wouldn't go as far as getting a degree. I was thinking doing welding. It's something that I've always wanted to do. And hey, I would get to work in a ship yard."

It must have been good to be young. Agen wouldn't know. He'd always been a Jedi. First a padawan, then a Knight, then a Master, and finally on the Council. He'd fought in a war and still had nightmares over it. He'd lead clones and watched as they died. He'd seen as the thing who called himself Darth Vader had slaughtered younglings in their beds. The best years of his life had already been taken from him by the Empire. He had nothing to show for it. Nothing but a broken body and a creche full of kittens. He smiled a bitter smile. Agen had gone a good ways when it came to breeding a new Jedi Order. And to think that he'd tried to defeat the very slavery that tried to kill him...

"Let's just get down there," Eeth murmured. He got up and sighed softly. The Zabrak didn't quite know what he was supposed to be doing, but Eeth seemed to be confident when he was doing it. Agen could respect that. He sighed softly. They were waiting to be hailed, especially as they went down to the old shipyard. Maybe Adiir would get his wish here. After he got training, of course. Eeth cursed under his breath. "I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"You think it's the Empire?"

"I'm not sure." Eeth gave Agen a grim look. "I don't think so, but I've been wrong before and I don't want to be wrong now." He sighed. "Not with Jiro and the kids here."

Agen understood what he meant. He could sacrifice himself and he would if they needed that to happen. But sacrifice his children? As much as he didn't know what to do with them, he could never justify letting them take the fall for his actions. The ship landed with a gentle _thump_ and Agen was the first one to drop the gangplank. He heard a wild cry and grabbed Aayla in a hug. The Twi'lek woman didn't let him go for a few long minutes, holding him close to her. Agen wrapped around her. He took a shaky breath, not sure he ever wanted to let her go. He could see others in the crowd, but all he cared for was the Rutian woman in his arms. He had missed her so much.

"I thought you were dead," she whispered. Aayla drew back a few minutes and smiled some. "Welcome home."

Agen cried as he held her. He was home and so were all of the others. They were _home_.


End file.
